Jallikattu held in Salem

Salem: A jallikattu event was held in Thammampatty here on Sunday. As many as 600 bulls from Salem, Karur, Namakkal, Trichy, Madurai and Dindigul districts were part of the bull taming event. About 300 tamers participated in the event.
District collector R Brinda Devi flagged off the event by reading out an oath for the participating tamers, promising not to harm the bulls.As per custom, the temple bull was first released through the ‘Vaadi Vasal’, after which the jallikattu bulls were released one by one to be tamed.
The district administration, which arranged the event, carried out medical examinations of both the bulls and the tamers before allowing them to enter the taming arena. The collector said the entire event was video graphed to ensure that the bulls were not harmed either by its owners or the tamers.
The Salem district police deployed 300 police personnel to ensure law and order at the event venue. Doctors from the health department and veterinarians from the animal husbandry department were deployed to treat the injured tamers and bulls on the spot. As many as 16 people were injured during the event, but their condition is said to be stable.
Prizes were distributed to people who successfully tamed the bulls and to bull owners whose bulls could not be tamed.
Additional collector Alarmel Mankai, Attur RDO T Priyadarshini and other officials were also present.