New Delhi, May 18 The Supreme Court on Monday refused to interfere with the high court order dismissing a PIL challenging the slaughter of buffaloes inside the premises of two zoos in Gujarat for feeding wild animals housed there.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta observed that animal slaughtering was not being done for any commercial or personal purpose, after the petitioner NGO 'Animal Welfare Foundation' argued that slaughtering animals inside the zoo premises amounted to operating a slaughterhouse and required compliance with laws.
Justice Mehta observed, "All this compendium (of rules) is meant for slaughterhouses where slaughter is done for human consumption or commercial purpose. Let them manage the zoo as they want to…".
Senior advocate Nikhil Goel, appearing for the petitioner, argued that the slaughter of animals within zoo premises required regulation, even if it was not being done for commercial purposes.
"The slaughter of any animal within the premises of a zoo has to be regulated. Simply because it is done for non-commercial purposes, the regulations don't go. Nowhere in the country is this kind of practice followed," he submitted.
Goel referred to the Supreme Court's 2017 judgment in Common Cause versus Union of India and submitted that pursuant to directions issued in the case, the government had identified 24 regulations governing pre-slaughter, slaughter and post-slaughter stages.
He argued that only one out of the 24 regulations may not apply because the meat was not meant for human consumption, but the remaining regulations would still apply.
Goel submitted that unlike other zoos in India, where tenders are issued for the supply of processed meat or food, the two zoos in Gujarat permitted live buffaloes to be brought into the zoo premises and slaughtered there for feeding wild animals in captivity.
"When an animal is slaughtered, there is a pollution impact, there is a water impact… It is only in these two zoos in the state of Gujarat that they permit live livestock to be brought in, slaughtered within the premises of the zoo and then use the edible part and then they say that you take the rest away," he submitted.
He argued that slaughtering animals inside the zoo premises amounted to operating a slaughterhouse and therefore required compliance with laws, including the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and licensing requirements.
Justice Nath said that the court was not convinced by the submission.
On January 29, the Gujarat High Court dismissed the PIL filed by the NGO challenging the handling and slaughtering of buffaloes within Junagadh's Sakkarbaugh Zoological park premises by a contractor engaged through a tender process.
The petitioner alleged that there was no recognised slaughterhouse inside the zoo and that animals were being slaughtered in an unauthorised and unregulated manner.
The high court noted that the zoo authorities had replied to a legal notice stating that the zoo functioned under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the regulations framed by the Central Zoo Authority.
The zoo authorities also stated before the high court that the Food Safety and Standards Regulations, 2011, did not apply in this case because the meat was not meant for human or commercial consumption.
