The horses of the mounted police deployed for IPL outside the Eden Gardens this year are being released from duty a few hours before the end of the matches to eliminate their chances of reacting to the sound of firecrackers after any match.
“On Tuesday, their duty ended around 8.15pm. They were not made to wait till the match was over,” a senior officer of Kolkata Police said.
The match ended several hours later.
Last year, a five-year-old mare — Voice of Reason — had panicked hearing the sound of firecrackers during the India-South Africa match of the ICC Cricket World Cup and died after crashing into multiple vehicles.
The death prompted the authorities to decide on releasing the horses a few hours before the end of the matches, sources said.
In the last two matches of the current IPL season that were played at Eden, on March 23 and April 14, the on-duty horses were given stand-down more than two hours before the end of each match and made to return to their stable.
A senior IPS officer at Lalbazar said it is difficult to predict how people would react at the end of the match. The sound of sudden bursting of crackers, he said, may scare the mounted police horses.
“This has been done keeping in mind about last year’s incident. Sometimes, animals feel inconvenienced by loud sounds. Why subject the horses to it,” the officer said.
“Earlier, the horses would be the last to return. They would stay put outside the stadium till the players would pack up and leave the venue,” said an officer of the mounted police.
The duty of a mounted police horse includes maintaining law and order outside Eden during cricket matches, on the Maidan during football matches and at the ticket counters in the Maidan area.
Veterinary surgeon Swapan Kumar Ghosh who has worked at the Alipore zoo
and also with the Kolkata Police dog squad and the mounted police said it was a “sensitive move” by Kolkata Police to ensure the fitness of the horses.
“We lost a precious life last year.... The decision is good for the horses. Besides, long duty hours in the hot weather is very tiring for them. An early stand down will help restore their health,” Ghosh said.
Horses have an “extremely sensitive” hearing system and the impact of the same sound is much higher on animals than on humans, veterinary surgeon Ghosh said.
More than 20 mounted police horses were deployed outside the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
Presently, there are 71 horses in the mounted police unit, out of which around eight or nine — which are the eldest — are not assigned duty because of old age.