Police, Palike officials and activists rescue two camels

The Ramamurthy Nagar police, along with BBMP officials and animal rights activists, on Sunday rescued two camels from Vijinapura in the City.

Acting on a tip-off by the activists, the police rescued the camels that were tied up at an under-construction building. The police said the animals had no attenders and they were trying to trace the person who had brought the camels to the City. The rescued animals were sent to a goshala in Doddanekundi.

In the past few days, a co-ordination committee involving staff from various departments has rescued four camels and many cows which were illegally transported to the City for slaughtering during the upcoming Bakrid festival on September 25. The committee has been formed following directions issued by the Karnataka Lokayukta in July 2015. Several squads have been formed which are inspecting vehicles transporting banned animals into the City at every check-post. Overloaded trucks and tempos in which animals such as sheep, goats and cattle are inhumanly stacked and transported are being checked, officials said.

According to Dr K A Nanjappa, Joint Director (Animal Husbandry), BBMP, officials from the Revenue, Animal Husbandry, Transport, Environment departments, BBMP and the City police are part of the coordination committee.

HC directions
“There were High Court directions in place to restrict entry of camels and slaughtering of cows. But there was no co-ordination among departments in implementing the order. We are not just rescuing the animals, but also creating awareness among the people about the dos and don’ts with regard to animal slaughter during the festival,” he said.

Nanjappa said that the BBMP had got pamphlets and posters printed and pasted them at prominent places in the City to create awareness among the community members about the existing laws. He said that they were also involving the community leaders and moulvis and having the posters printed in Urdu and other local languages to spread awareness about illegal animal slaughter.