News
Activists take bull by the horns to stop cruel hackery races
Animal Rights Activists last week said their campaign against hackery races with bulls during this April festival season was successful and they would continue to push for legislation banning the race.
Win at any cost: Activist said the animals are mercilessly bashed with sticks, kicked, have their tails twisted and bitten, and have a stick dug into their anus by the cart drivers
Sathva Mithra Group (SMG), a movement against cruelty to animals, said that following protests against the races many organisations have struck off the event from their itinerary of avurudu sports.
SMG President Sagarika Rajakarunanayake said the SMG had been lobbying for a ban since 2007 and was successful this year due to early intervention by the police. She said the sport was scrapped in many major avurudu festivals that took place around the country.
A hackery race is a marathon among bulls. The animals are tied to special carts called thirikkal and made to race several kilometers. The winner gets a prize of about Rs 25,000.
The sport is the main event at an avurudu festival celebrations in rural Sri Lanka in the towns Chilaw, Wennapuwa, Dompe, Gampaha, Minneriya, Kurunegala, and Galle. Due to the spillover effect the sport has crept to Colombo suburbs including the towns of Homagama and Kaduwela.
Previously a “noble sport” indulged in by affluent families in the early 19th century, hackery races have now become a gambling option for thirikkal owners.
To win, these animals are tortured during the race. Activist said they are mercilessly bashed with sticks, kicked, have their tails twisted and bitten, and have a stick dug into their anus by the cart drivers.
“The animals are not biologically made for marathon races,” Ms. Rajakarunayake said.
Thirikkal owner Wasantha Lanerolle claims doing away with the event would result in the racing bulls being sent to slaughter.
The bulls, he said, are valued at Rs. 250,000-300,000 but if a ban is imposed their value would slump to Rs. 30,000-40,000.
He went on to say that the bulls receive good care. “We treat them like horses, give them kollu [high-protein grain] every day, bathe them every other day and train them for the race every day,” he said.
The animals are groomed throughout the year for the sport and are not made to work in the fields or drive carts. “The prize money is little when compared to the money spent on their maintenance. This is a prestige sport,” he said.
Animal rights activist and lawyer Lalani Perera said she had sought the help of police for early intervention to stop the sport. She said that the sport is not illegal but that the animals were cruelly treated.
Following several calls from the public complaining of animal cruelty during the festive sports, she and other animal rights activists had approached the police for help. “The police have acted promptly and have stopped many events this season,” she said.
Senior Deputy Inspector-General of Police (Senior DIG) for Crimes, Nandana Munasinghe, said that police had received orders from Inspector-General of Police N.K. Illangakoon to “discourage” the sport. Accordingly, circulars had been sent to all police stations to inform festival organisers not to hold the event this season.
“The sport cannot be done away with fully but we will take action if there is cruelty to the animals,” he said. “The perpetrators will be charged,” he added.
| Thirikkal owners quickly club together Despite police requesting that no thirikkal races be held this year, a major race is planned for the avurudu festival at Homagama this coming Wednesday. Another race held at Maradana yesterday under the auspices of the Colombo Municipal Council took place close to the Hulftsdorp courts complex. Wasantha Lanerolle, a member of the hackery association, Samastha Lanka Thirikkal Himikaruwan Adanne Sangamaya (SLTHAS), said cart owners had agreed not to inflict cruelty on the animals. He said any person acting to the contrary could be censured and fined as well as banned from the sport for a year. Thirikkal owners last week in a show of solidarity to the sport quickly formed the SLTHAS. The group, which already has around 65 members, is now calling on all thirikkal owners countrywide to join its fight against the move to ban the sport. |