Horses 'abused' by Chennai drug company: PETA

New Delhi, June 4: Horses and other equines were allegedly abused in a private drug company in Chennai, animal rights group PETA said on Monday.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) also said that they had sent a letter to the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Ministry, urging to rescue the animals and send them to a rehabilitation centre.

It said its investigations revealed that horses and other equines, kept at a private farm of Chennai-based Mediclone Biotech Pvt Ltd, were being used to produce antitoxins, and the animals had skin diseases, body lesions, apparent malnourishment and bleeding wounds among other ailments. Some were even seen eating their own faeces, PETA said in a statement.

According to PETA, the government had suspended Mediclone's experimentation licence on March 31, 2017, following inspections by Animal Welfare Board of India in 2015, which revealed widespread abuse of equines at Mediclone and similar facilities.

"The suspension of Mediclone's licence hasn't stopped horses from suffering and bleeding at the company's hands," PETA India Science Policy Advisor Dipti Kapoor said.

"PETA is calling on authorities to rescue and rehabilitate these horses and all equines abused by antitoxin producers across India."

A spokesperson from Mediclone Biotech Pvt Ltd has denied the abuse of animals at their farm saying: "It is a deliberate attempt to bring down the pharmaceutical industry and PETA has made similar complaints against other companies also."

He said that the company has written separately to the Prime Minister's Office on the issue.