Zeenat Aman's letter to Municipal Commissioner
Dear Mr Kunte,
Recently, while a vigil was being held in Mumbai for one beleaguered horse who had died, another horse forced to haul a carriage collapsed. What number of more horses and those must become injured or die before horse carriages are banned in Mumbai?
I'M writing so as to add my voice to the campaign by my friends at People for the moral Treatment of Animals (PETA) and citizens' group Mumbai for Horses calling for a ban on cruel horse-drawn carriages. Both tourists and locals are saddened and appalled by the plight of those horses. These gentle animals are sometimes malnourished, injured and ill yet are forced to haul carriage loads heavier than their bone-thin bodies can bear.
In addition, horses and cars don't mix. Horses and those have both been injured or even killed in carriage accidents. In May 2010, a speeding vehicle passed a horse carriage, which caused the pony to jump, throwing the motive force and a 3-year-old child. The kid died a result of accident. In November of that very same year, a horse pulling nine riders on a Victoria collapsed at Gateway of India.
Mumbai has such a lot to offer, however the pathetic spectacle of horse abuse is the very first thing that many tourists see, and it taints their impression of our great city.
Please won't you place horse carriages out to pasture by banning them? Please respond to me via PETA India's Sachin Bangera.
Yours sincerely,
Zeenat Aman
