Twelve armed police officers rescued pig from slaughter by illegal meat racketeers

Twelve armed policemen in three vans and a group of animal activists and Good Samaritans scoured slums in Vikhroli, Mumbai, India, before rescuing a pig, abducted by illegal meat racketeers, barely hours before it seemed destined to meet its maker. Last Tuesday afternoon, animal lovers Priya Sharma and Paras Shah heard loud shrieks of the stray pig at Vikhroli (east) as it was being taken away on a motorcycle.

"All the four legs of the pig were tied, its mouth was covered. It was crying in such a pitiable manner we just could not ignore it, and started calling up animal activists for help," said Sharma. Soon after, with the help of activists Bimlesh Nawani, Neelkanth Shetgiri and Priya Grover of In Defence of Animals, a frantic local search started. "On asking around, we came to know that a group staying at Kannamwar Nagar has been catching stray pigs to sell the meat.



"Since it was New Year's time, they were catching more pigs for illegal slaughter. We called the 100 emergency number for police assistance, and they immediately responded in the night," said Shetgiri. "The police were very cooperative and said since the slums near Vidya Mandir High School are rather sensitive, they deployed the three police vans with 12 armed cops to rescue the pig. Finally, we managed to find the pig, which was still tied up, after midnight.

"The locals also said an illegal slaughter racket was on," said Grover of IDA. A police official said there was urgency in the pleas of the activists, so a team under senior inspector Dinesh Desai swung into action immediately. Three people were arrested. Sanjay Chavan was charged under Section 119 (animal cruelty) of the Maharashtra Police Act for running the illegal pig slaughter racket. Two associates were given bail, said local activist Salim Charania, who had helped in the rescue.