New Delhi, Dec 3 (IANS): The results of a multi-state survey of government efforts to enforce India's ban on using metal-spiked (or "thorn") bits on horses, have spurred People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India to unleash a nationwide campaign aimed at helping police enforce the ban.

The campaign is being launched in the states with the highest population of horses, ponies, mules, and donkeys as per the 20th Livestock Census of 2019, published in October and conducted by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying of the Central government.

PETA has urged states including Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh to take action against those ignoring the ban and to conduct police enforcement drives.

Use of the bits is strictly prohibited under Rule 8 of The Prevention of Cruelty to Draught and Pack Animals Rules, 1965. Following outreach from PETA India, several states, including Assam, Bihar, Delhi, Karnataka, and Telangana, issued orders mandating the enforcement of this prohibition.

During their investigations, PETA India even found horses with spiked bits embedded more than a centimetre deep in their mouths, ripping their lips and tongues and causing extreme pain, bloody wounds, immense mental trauma, and lifelong damage.