KOLKATA: After yet another horse was found starving, dehydrated, and left to die under the Hastings Flyover, PETA India has launched a powerful billboard campaign in Kolkata urging people to say no to horse-drawn carriage rides. “If you care about animals, don’t take carriage rides,” is PETA India’s blunt and urgent message to the people through the campaign.Placed at VIP Road, Kestopur, Baguiati Flyover, Prafulla Kanan, and Narayantala near the airport, the billboard carries a clear message: don’t support cruelty for entertainment.The campaign follows the death of a young mare, only around four years old, who was discovered in a horrifying condition. She had no sensation in her legs, no reflexes, one eye infested with maggots, and her body was oozing discharge. Despite emergency rescue and veterinary care, she could not survive. PETA India has filed an FIR against the owner for severe neglect and cruelty.Through this campaign, PETA India is calling on Kolkata residents and tourists to stop taking joyrides on horse-drawn carriages and to recognise the suffering behind them. Horses used for these rides are often forced to work on hard roads in extreme conditions, and many are found weak, malnourished, anaemic, or collapsed from exhaustion.PETA India says horses are sensitive, feeling beings who deserve freedom, care, and dignity—not pain, overwork, and abandonment. The organisation is urging the public to help end this outdated and cruel practice by refusing to ride in horse-drawn carriages.The Calcutta High Court has already raised serious concerns over repeated cases of horses collapsing in the Maidan and Victoria Memorial areas and has asked the state government to explore alternatives for carriage owners. In Mumbai, horse-drawn tourist carriages were successfully replaced with heritage-style e-carriages, offering a humane alternative.
