The Udhagamandalam Municipality has begun tagging and registering horses, and recording their owners from Monday, with a view to impounding animals that are left to roam the streets or have been abandoned.
According to officials, licence applications to register horses are to be given to all owners starting from Monday at ₹ 500. It is estimated that there are anywhere between 100 and 150 horse owners in Udhagamandalam.
The horses, once they are registered with the municipality, will be given a tag with a unique number attached to the collar.
If horses are found abandoned on the roads, the horses will be impounded and the owners can also be tracked. The owners can get the horses back once they pay a fine to the municipality.
Municipal Commissioner (in-charge), C. Ravi, said that the registering of horses would be completed in the coming days, and that any horses found on the town’s roads would be impounded starting from Friday.
However, the municipality was still looking for places in the town where the impounded horses could be held till their owners were found.
“We are looking at a few places, including a ground at Khandal, but we need to identify a spot where the animals impounded do not have an affect on local residents,” added Mr. Ravi.
For now, the municipality is only tagging horses, but there are plans to also impound cattle and other large livestock which are left loose inside the town.
