In an effort to stop illegal bullfights, the Goa government has made it mandatory for owners to get their bulls microchipped and to register their bulls in the state within a month.
Bullfights, locally referred to as dhirio or dhiri, were banned in Goa after a resident of Cana-Benaulim was killed by a “violent” bull at a fight organised at Ambaji-Fatorda in 1996. After the incident, the NGO People for Animals Goa filed a petition in the High Court of Bombay at Goa, which ruled that bullfights were in contravention of the provisions of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and therefore “illegal” and “cannot be permitted to be organised”.
The High Court had directed the state government to take immediate steps to ban “all types of animal fights, including bullfights and ‘dhirios’ in the state”.
As bullfights continued to be organised, a contempt petition was filed in 2021 in the High Court, following which an action plan was prepared by the government. However, the events are still organised clandestinely, especially in coastal villages. In April, a bull died during a bullfight in a paddy field in Betalbatim, and in January, a spectator was gored to death at a bullfight near Benaulim.
A recent notification by the Department of Animal Husbandry said that “all the bull owners in Goa are hereby directed to get their bulls (including buffalo bulls) microchipped and registered with the area veterinary officers by taking prior appointment” within a month of publication of the notification in the Official Gazette.
It said a uniform direction had been received from the district collectors of Goa’s two districts for the microchipping of the bulls to tackle the persistent issue of bullfights. “The police inspector, in whose jurisdiction the said bull is housed, should ensure that the owner of the bull gets his animal registered without any delay,” it said.
The order said that bull owners who fail to get their bulls microchipped and registered with the area veterinary officers, within the requisite timeframe, “shall be presumed to have wilfully abstained from microchipping and registration… with the intent of indulgence in illegal bullfights or dhirios”.
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“Any bulls found without registration and microchipping/ear tagging, shall be confiscated and shifted to the designated gaushala, by the concerned police inspector under the supervision of jurisdictional veterinary officer,” it said, adding that anyone found in contravention of the notification shall be fined Rs 50,000, equivalent to the maintenance cost of a bull for three months at the gaushala.
In the recent state Assembly session, MLAs across party lines had called for legalising bullfighting in the state, arguing that dhirio is an integral part of Goa’s cultural fabric.
