Cattle found being ‘electrocuted’ at Delhi slaughterhouse

New Delhi, Aug 18 (PTI) In a shocking case of animalrights violation, cattle at a slaughterhouse in east Delhiwere found to be allegedly electrocuted rather than being’stunned’ before their slaughtering. In a surprise inspection at the Ghazipur slaughterhouse,East Delhi Mayor Satya Sharma has also claimed to have foundmany buffaloes and sheep suspended upside down from hookswhile they were still conscious. "In slaughterhouses, ‘stunning’ — a process of renderingthe animals unconscious before killing them — is followed,but not in this case. Buffaloes were being electrocuted byplacing a live wire on their body, before slitting theirthroat," Sharma said. During the inspection on August 10, the mayor wasaccompanied by Additional Commissioner EDMC, C A Dhan, DelhiSlaughterhouse Monitoring Committee member Gauri Maulekhi, anda few animal rights experts. "Besides, we also found that buffaloes and sheep weresuspended upside down from hooks even while they wereconscious. There was no provision to separate sick animalsfrom the rest of the herd," Sharma said. The abattoir, said to be the country’s largest mechanisedslaughterhouse (for domestic and export purposes), functionsunder the supervision of EDMC and is leased to a major privatecompany. "It was my first inspection and truly shocking what wesaw. Such brazen cruelty to animals is unacceptable, and Ihave already written to the EDMC Commissioner seeking actionagainst the Director of Veterinary in this connection. "We have also sought a proper counting of animals keptthere and installation of CCTV cameras there," Sharma said. Delhi Slaughterhouse Monitoring Committee member Maulekhisaid, "Ghazipur slaughterhouse has so far been a publicliability. The facility costs over Rs 5,000 crore to theDelhi government and is leased at a mere Rs 4 crore per annumto the contractor company." "The contractor is flouting all laws with impunity andcompromising food safety and animal welfare, right under thenose of the EDMC," Maulekhi alleged. Manilal Valliyate, also a member of Delhi SlaughterhouseMonitoring Committee, said, "Ante-mortem examination wasconducted on all animals which were slaughtered." "Strangely, all buffaloes which had been brought forslaughter were found to be females, discarded by the dairyindustry and many could be pregnant. Pregnancy tests were notbeing conducted on all animals," he alleged. PTI KND GVS ZMNGVS