MUMBAI: Ambika Hiranandani, an animal rights activist and lawyer, has urged the BSPCA and the horse survey team to relocate Superman to a better place for the last few years of his life. "The story of Superman is typical of countless other horses who are forced to work long hours and live in filthy stables," she says. "Superman is in extremely delicate health."
The horse's last assignment was over a year ago for serial Jhansi Ki Rani. "He was ridden by a young girl who was playing the child queen, but his health was bad even during the shooting," says animal activist Roxanne Davur of NGO Terra Anima. "If horses work so hard to earn for their masters, they should also be allowed to retire at right time."
According to BSPCA secretary Lt Colonel J C Khanna, a horse should be retired at 22 years, which is the equivalent to 60 in human beings.
Manilal Valliyate, director of veterinary affairs of PETA India, said: "Since Sholay was released, I have grown from a baby into an adult, become a husband and a father and graduated from vet school, while this poor horse has been spending his life at shoots. He would have been whipped and forced to drag heavy loads beyond his physical capacity," he says. Valliyate feels that the "archaic" practice of using horses to haul carriages needs to be done away with.
Incidentally, Sholay heroine Hema Malini wrote in 2009 to then minister of environment and forests Jairam Ramesh on behalf of PETA India to stop the use of horse carriages in Mumbai. In January, the HC ordered to form a special panel to survey and study the health of all workhorses and condition of stables.
The horse's last assignment was over a year ago for serial Jhansi Ki Rani. "He was ridden by a young girl who was playing the child queen, but his health was bad even during the shooting," says animal activist Roxanne Davur of NGO Terra Anima. "If horses work so hard to earn for their masters, they should also be allowed to retire at right time."
According to BSPCA secretary Lt Colonel J C Khanna, a horse should be retired at 22 years, which is the equivalent to 60 in human beings.
Manilal Valliyate, director of veterinary affairs of PETA India, said: "Since Sholay was released, I have grown from a baby into an adult, become a husband and a father and graduated from vet school, while this poor horse has been spending his life at shoots. He would have been whipped and forced to drag heavy loads beyond his physical capacity," he says. Valliyate feels that the "archaic" practice of using horses to haul carriages needs to be done away with.
Incidentally, Sholay heroine Hema Malini wrote in 2009 to then minister of environment and forests Jairam Ramesh on behalf of PETA India to stop the use of horse carriages in Mumbai. In January, the HC ordered to form a special panel to survey and study the health of all workhorses and condition of stables.
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