Six horses, used for riding on the sea beach in Cox’s Bazar, have recently died of starvation sparking off blame and counter blames for ignoring to feed the animals and regularly checking condition of their health.
Various reports also said that over 20 horses allegedly died of similar cases in just one month while many more horses remain critically sick in absence of proper care.
According to various sources, the owners of the horses claim that the animals died as they did not have sufficient income for a long time to continue buying food (fodder) for the horses during the on-going ban on sea beach tourism business amid the Covid-19 crisis.
The horse owners further claimed that they used to buy food with the money they made from businesses from entertaining tourists who usually hire horses for riding on the beach.
Meanwhile, an investigation committee has been formed on Sunday last and legal notices have been served to 13 people.
In the legal notice, Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers' Association (BELA), People for Animal Welfare Foundation (PAW), and Youth Environment Society (YES) demanded better care for the horses, used as tourist entertainment and legal punishment for the owners and supervisors of the deceased horses.
The notice also said lack of sufficient food, mainly fodder and grain, is the main reason behind the deaths of the animals, and some of the deaths were caused by physically weakened horses' becoming accident-prone while plying the road.
According to sources, the coastal district of Cox's Bazar has more than 200 such horses. Since the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic, the horses began facing unimaginable difficulties and their survival was at stake as tourism industry, the biggest in the country, literally collapsed due to the ban.
Such a situation led to deaths of 40 horses last year and 21 more in just the last one month. The news of the animal deaths in the district immediately triggered serious concerns forcing the district authority to take action.
The district administration, in the meantime, claimed that they had been providing food for the horses during the lockdown to keep the horses healthy.
Ahsan Uddin Nishan, president of the Cox's Bazar Horse Owners' Association, said that the horse owners were very unruly in the lockdown. Eight horses have died this year due to inability to provide daily necessities to the horses.
Cox's Bazar District Administration (Tourism and Protocol) Branch Assistant Commissioner and Executive Magistrate Syed Murad Islam said, “Twenty-two horse owners had been allowed to entertain tourists at Cox's Bazar beach.”
Meanwhile, beaches and leisure centers are banned to protect against the horrors of the Corona. This stopped the income of the horse owners and the horses fell into a food crisis.
That is why the district administration distributes bhusi and gram flour considering the humanitarian issues of these horse owners. “I hope there is no crisis,” said Islam.
Dr Asim Baran Sen, officer-in-charge of the Cox’s Bazar District Animal Resources Department, said, ‘It is not true that horses die due to food crisis. So many horses cannot possibly die in such a short time. Even then, the Department of Animal Resources formed a committee to investigate. The committee will report within the next two to three days. Then everything will be known.
