Press Release: Charity shocked by brutal donkey killing

from The Donkey Sanctuary          

7^th September 2011  

International animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary has today announced that it is commencing legal action in response to video footage showing a donkey being deliberately crushed to death by a digger.

The Donkey Sanctuary is appalled by the video clip which was taken in the town of Churu in Rajastan, India on 7th August 2011. The shocking footage shows a local official using the excavator of a mechanical digger to knock the donkey to the ground and then repeatedly hit it on the head and body.  

Local community members had seen the donkey sniffing a dog that was thought to have died of rabies and suspected that the donkey may have contracted the disease. They contacted their local municipality who sent a man and a digger to deal with the situation. 

The disturbing video clip has been uploaded to You Tube by HBC News.

WARNING! IT IS VERY GRAPHIC TO WATCH AND EXTREMELY BRUTAL! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp6L8pQBoks&feature=player_embedded

Stephen Blakeway, director of international operations for The Donkey Sanctuary, says: “This is a truly brutal and shocking video which shows the donkey being treated with extreme and needless cruelty. If advice had been sought, the donkey could either have been quarantined to see if it had any symptoms or euthanised humanely. In this case, the municipality’s response broke Indian Animal Welfare law so we have now started a process of legal action. We have instructed our legal adviser, who is one of India’s top Animal Welfare lawyers, to initiate action. He is now working closely with the Animal Welfare Board of India and the local Society for the Protection of Animals in order to bring a prosecution.

“We cannot bring the donkey back to life, and we are not interested in impoverishing a municipality that may already be short of money to meet its responsibilities, but a legal case will publicise that there are humane ways to respond to such situations and so reduce the chance that this terrible action will be repeated.”

The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals act in India (1960) lists torturing an animal as an illegal and punishable offence. The act sets out a procedure for the destruction of ill and suffering animals; a government veterinarian should have been called to provide a medical opinion on the matter and to euthanise the animal humanely if required, which did not happen in this case.

The Donkey Sanctuary has been working in India since 1988, and five mobile veterinary teams based in Delhi, Ahmedabad, Gwalior, Sikar and Solapur work to protect and promote the welfare of the country’s many working donkeys and mules. 

About The Donkey Sanctuary

International animal welfare charity The Donkey Sanctuary was founded by the late Dr Elisabeth Svendsen M.B.E. in 1969 and aims to protect donkeys and mules and promote their welfare worldwide. 

The Donkey Sanctuary supports projects to relieve the suffering of donkeys in 29 countries worldwide, including sanctuaries across Europe, where more than 14,500 donkeys and mules have been cared for, and major projects in Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Kenya and Mexico, where donkey welfare is improved through community education and veterinary work.

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