Over the years, investigations by PETA India have revealed that buffaloes used in Kambala events are subjected to inhumane treatment.
Published Oct 17, 2025 | 9:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 17, 2025 | 9:00 AM
Kambala race in Mysuru.
Synopsis: The Kambala season, Karnataka’s traditional buffalo slush-track race, is set to begin in November. Ahead of the races, animal rights groups, including PETA India, have raised concerns over animal cruelty.
The Kambala season, Karnataka’s traditional buffalo slush-track race, is set to begin in November. This year, the sport received a major boost with the Sports Authority of Karnataka granting state-level recognition to the Karnataka State Kambala Association on 7 October. However, concerns remain over animal cruelty and how the cultural festival is being commercialised.
Animal rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have been at the forefront of opposing the festival, also seeking an outright ban on Kambala events and other bull and bullock cart races in the state through a petition in the Supreme Court in 2018. The organisation’s petition at the Karnataka High Court in 2024 had raised objections against the festival being held anywhere else in the state outside the coastal regions.
It was one of the main reasons why the event was not held in Bengaluru last year.
However, with the association now receiving recognition, it will soon start conducting events across the state. While the official Kambala calendar for 2025–26 does not include any events scheduled in Bengaluru or areas outside Udupi and Dakshina Kannada (where the festival is usually held), the association, during a press conference, did mention that Kambala in Bengaluru can be scheduled after 25 April, if there is a demand.
Association President Belapu Deviprasad Shetty, speaking to reporters, also said there was a proposal to hold Kambala during Mysuru Dasara next year.
Over the years, investigations by PETA India have revealed that buffaloes used in Kambala events are subjected to inhumane treatment.
“Cruelty to animals is not a ‘sport’ any more than violence to children would be. Legitimising and glorifying cruelty to animals while undermining animal welfare laws is a dangerous precedent for society,” Vikram Chandravanshi, Senior Policy and Legal Advisor at PETA India, told South First.
These animals are tethered without adequate food or water, beaten with sticks, and forcibly restrained with painful nose ropes, resulting in distress and fear.
“Buffaloes are physically ill-suited to racing because, among other reasons, they lack the sweat glands needed to deal with the heat exertion the races inevitably cause in these animals,” PETA India said in a blog post.
When the races begin, the cruelty intensifies. Chandravanshi explained that buffaloes are forced to endure violence, pain and suffering. They are beaten and prodded with wooden sticks, and their tails are twisted, bitten and pulled.
“At Kambala events investigated by PETA India, buffalo bulls can be seen frothing at the mouth, pulled by their nose ropes, and dragged to the starting point,” he added.
Studies also point towards a broader social concern: People who commit acts of cruelty to animals often progress to hurting humans, Chandravanshi said, while referring to a study published in Forensic Research and Criminology International Journal that stated, “Those who engage in animal cruelty were three times more likely to commit other crimes, including murder, rape, robbery, assault, harassment, threats and drug/substance abuse.”
When the Kambala race is brought to areas outside the coastal region, buffaloes have to undergo a long and arduous journey, which adds to the animal’s stress.
In 2023, the cultural festival made its way to Bengaluru, drawing between seven and eight lakh visitors, 125 food stalls, over 100 pairs of prized buffaloes, and 2,000 VIP seating arrangements. It was a commercial triumph by any measure.
However, when PETA investigated the Bengaluru event, it found that the exhausted buffaloes were forced to race on a longer 155-metre track, leading to severe physiological stress, as evidenced by heavy salivation, frothing at the mouth, and laboured breathing. The organisation shared this report with the state government in 2024.
“The festival was conducted purely for commercial and entertainment reasons and is therefore evidently an exploitation of the limited permission to conduct buffalo races in certain parts of the state,” PETA had said in its petition to the Karnataka High Court, while opposing Kambala in Bengaluru the following year.
A year later, PETA’s concerns remain unaddressed. The organisation’s case in the Karnataka High Court against holding the Kambala race outside Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts was dismissed on 14 October.
While a detailed order is yet to be issued, a division bench headed by Chief Justice Vibhu Bakru and Justice CM Poonachha observed orally that the state government can decide the laws and rules regarding the organisation of Kambala in other parts of the state.
“The traditions of a particular geographical area or some districts of the state are the traditions of the entire state. Can the parts of Karnataka where certain traditions are celebrated be said not to belong to the state? If so, it would be a divisive sentiment,” the court observed, according to a report by Bar and Bench. The matter has been listed for further hearing on 11 November.
Meanwhile, the State Kambala Association announced plans to adopt an Indian Premier League (IPL) style sponsorship model, allowing corporate entities to sponsor and fund individual Kambalas to meet the estimated ₹40 lakh cost of hosting each event, association president Shetty told reporters.
However, animal rights activists have raised concerns that such commercialisation only deepens the exploitation of buffaloes, shifting focus further away from the welfare of the animals at the centre of the spectacle.
On the other hand, PETA India said it would continue to advocate for a complete prohibition of Kambala, citing the 2014 Supreme Court judgment in Animal Welfare Board of India vs A Nagaraja & Ors, which held that holding Kambala and other bull performances would violate the rights guaranteed to animals under the Constitution of India and The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
The organisation has also filed a review petition before the Supreme Court seeking reversal of the judgment dated 18 May 2023 passed by a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Animal Welfare Board of India vs Union of India and connected petitions, which upheld the constitutional validity of state-level amendments to the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960.
Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra have made such amendments to allow for traditional bull-taming sports such as Jallikattu, Kambala, and bull-cart racing.
“PETA India’s concerns will be satisfied when cruelty to animals stops being treated as entertainment,” Chandravanshi said.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
