In a shocking incident a horse died after drowning inside Thane's Masunda lake on Wednesday afternoon. While the animal rights activists have alleged negligence by the owner, police officials have so far registered a case of accidental death. According to cops from Naupada police station, the horse owner claimed that they had just purchased the 14 year old horse named Baba from Kalyan on Tuesday. “The owner said that due to the road journey the muscles of the horse were stiffened and it was finding it difficult to move. As a traditional practice the handlers decided to splash some water from the lake on its body and as the horse was standing on the edge of the lake it slipped and since its leash got stuck in its feet it fell on its back,” according to a cop. By the time some bystanders could help pull out the horse from lake, a lot of water seemed to have entered its lungs and it died as it was being rushed to the animalhospital. However several animal rights activists have raised questions over how could the handlers take the horse so near to the lake. “We are sure they wanted to give the horse a proper bath and being noon with less people near the lake they decided to quickly allow a dip and the horse must have slipped causing its death,” said an activist adding that there have been several complaints about the horse owner who runs horse carriages during the evenings. Dr Suhas Rane a Vet and Secretary Thane SPCA said that ideally the owner or handlers should have consulted a vet or even if they wanted to give it traditional treatment they could have relied upon hot fermentation rather than risking its life by taking it to a lake. Meanwhile another cop from Naupada said that the owner informed them that due to this incident he has suffered a huge financial loss as the horse was just bought. “We have simply taken the statement of the owner and made a diary entry about the accident. However if animal rights activists come forward and lodge a complaint we will surely register a case,” said the cop.

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