The Udhagamandalam municipality along with the district police rounded up stray, unmarked horses from across the town on Wednesday.
As the town has more than 150 horses, mostly which were formerly used for horse racing and were then sold to persons conducting horse-rides for tourists, the municipality decided to act and start clamping down on horse owners who do not take care of the animals and let them loose inside the town.
Applications
Around a week ago, the municipality began distributing applications to horse owners and tagged the horses with a number to identify to whom they belonged to.
However, as only 22 owners registered their animals, the municipality, along with the police's protection began seizing the unregistered horses and those roaming the town without on Wednesday.
According to officials in the municipality, more than 10 horses were rounded up and taken to Khandal, where they were tied up.
Fine
The horse owners have been told to come to the municipality office, pay a fine and retrieve the animals.
The municipality said that they would take strict action against the owners and that more such animals would be taken to Khandal unless they were registered.
The seizures of the animals was conducted by a team led by the Udhagamandalam Municipality Commissioner (in-charge), C Ravi, who was accompanied by Ooty Town DSP, A Manikandan.
