BENGALURU: Bengaluru’s love with animals is not new and the list now includes its passion for horses. To protect the gene pool of equines in South India, especially Karnataka, the first laboratory and research centre for equines will be set up in Bengaluru by April-end.
It will be the first such centre in South India. The National Research Centre on Equines (NRCE) is being set up by equine experts and a team from Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR). Navaneet Raj, proprietor, Equine Breeding Centre said, “The centre and lab will collect and store semen samples. This will help preserve and improve the indigenous gene pool. The lab and centre will not be for racing horses, but for those used for other sports like polo. Many people in Bengaluru and other cities have horses in their farms and other places.”
Similar facilities are present in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Maharashtra. There, the state governments have taken the initiative to set up labs. But that is not the case in the South. Raj said he is also talking to concerned agencies in the state government to help set up the centre. An NRCE official said the Glanders disease, a contagion that afflicts horses, was tackled years ago.