3 min readBengaluruOct 15, 2025 09:21 PM IST
First published on: Oct 15, 2025 at 09:21 PM IST
The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday dismissed most aspects of a petition filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) against holding the Kambala race outside Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts. The court, however, will further hear whether the traditional bullock race can be held close to a zoo near Mangaluru.
Kambala is a traditional bullock race originating in coastal south Karnataka, wherein two bullocks are directed by a handler on an earthen track. PETA requested in its 2024 petition that the Government be restrained from giving permission to hold bullock races outside the two districts and also be directed to enforce provisions of the amended Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, as well as Supreme Court directions in any further race.
Appearing for PETA, senior counsel Dhyan Chinappa said, “It can only be done in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, where it is part of the culture. In no other part of Karnataka is it part of tradition.” He added that there was no tradition of it being conducted in Shimoga or Bengaluru.
Among the earlier submissions was the question of the welfare of the animals in transporting them for the race from coastal Karnataka. PETA has also argued that the 2017 amendment to the above-mentioned act allowing Kambala would apply only in the context of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.
Representing the state, advocate Shashikiran Shetty submitted, “We have issued regulations when it is being conducted in Bangalore, what are the steps to be taken…if your lordships feel the need for any conditions over and above this, we are ready to comply.”
A bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice C M Poonacha, which heard the matter, said, “It is a state and therefore if there is any event which is a very integral part of the culture of some locality…why is it that event may not be held elsewhere? If you look at the state as unified, it is part of the state…will you be able to demarcate saying it is part of the culture of only a particular district?”
The bench further observed that the manner of the traditional event could not be changed, for instance, by substituting bullocks for elephants. It drew an analogy to traditional games of a particular area, questioning if they could only be played in the place they originated.
The bench later set aside the petition with regard to most of the points, but it will further hear PETA’s objections to the disruption to the animals caused by the noise of the race conducted near the Pilikula Biological Park, a zoo near Mangaluru.
Kambala is a traditional bullock race originating in coastal south Karnataka, wherein two bullocks are directed by a handler on an earthen track. (File) 
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