PETA complains against illegal animal tests in Punjab

NEW DELHI - Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India has filed a complaint against Punjab’s directorate of animal husbandry for conducting “breeding” experiments which violate the law on prevention of cruelty to animals.

Under the Right to Information Act, PETA obtained a document stating that the department was conducting breeding and testing experiments in violation of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960 as it was not registered as an institute where experiments could be held on animals.

The group had also received a complaint that workers at the Punjab Veterinary Vaccine Institute, that operates under the directorate, killed rabbits by hitting them on the head with hammers.

“Following this, PETA has sent an urgent letter to the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) urging it to take appropriate action against the directorate,” said PETA’s senior campaigns coordinator Dharmesh Solanki in a statement issued here Thursday.

In the letter, dated Sep 11, to CPCSEA, a government body which comes under the ministry for environment and forests, PETA said that the directorate is not registered as institute where experiments are conducted on animals, as mandated under the 1960 act.

“We are shocked that a government institute is involved in a breach of the law. If a government institute can so blatantly violate the law, then what can we conclude about CPCSEA’s ability to regulate the many small private institutions which are spread across India?” the letter read.

In the letter, PETA also asked the CPCSEA to notify all the labs in India via newspapers, ads, e-mails and letters that they must strictly adhere to CPCSEA guidelines regarding experiments on animals and that immediate action will be taken against institutes that violate the guidelines.