Army stops euthanasia of old animals

Shaurya Karanbir Gurung

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 6

The practice of euthanising “old and worn out” Army animals, including horses and dogs, and sometimes sending them to serum institutes for testing vaccines on them has been stopped, after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) issued instructions that such animals will instead be rehabilitated by the Army.

The MoD recently issued instructions in this regard. “Immediate cessation of destruction of old and worn out Army animals of all categories (equines and canines),” reads the instructions.

The Ministry further ordered that the old and worn animals would be transported to the Remount Veterinary Corps (RVC) Centre & College, Meerut Cantt, where dogs are bred and trained and at the Remount Training School and Depot, Hempur, where horses are trained, for “further maintenance for one year”.

“After a year, the government will further add on to this policy. The Army will rehabilitate such animals for the rest of their lives,” said Army sources.