State DVS health department chief Dr Nabilah Abd Talib said a probe was launched yesterday to determine if the animals had been abused as reported.
This followed a police report lodged by lawyer Shamsher Singh Thind after he had watched a video of two bulls struggling to pull the heavy chariot from a standstill.
“We have gone to inspect the bulls in question,” Nabilah said, adding that it was too early to say anything as investigations were ongoing.
The video, along with pictures of investigation and regulatory officers from the DVS visiting the handlers of the silver chariot have gone viral.
The use of bulls to pull chariots is a traditional practice, but critics say the chariots hundreds of years ago were lightweight and not as heavy as the current ones.
FMT has learnt that the current silver chariot weighs at least five tonnes. This takes into account the chariot’s weight of 3.3 tonnes, as well as the weight of the 15 helpers that stand on them to receive offerings from devotees.
The newer golden chariots, run by the Penang Hindu Endowments Board (PHEB), are pulled by devotees.
The silver chariot is run by the Registered Trustees of the Nattukottai Chettiar Temples.
‘I saw bulls collapse – twice!’
A devotee told FMT that one of the bulls pulling the chariot had collapsed in the afternoon heat on Thaipusam eve.
She said the handlers managed to prop the chariot up before it tilted sideways, and the collapsed bull was quickly replaced by another which was following behind.
“It was 12 o’clock in the afternoon. It was hot, and the bulls stopped as they could not take the weight.
“They kept beating the bull so that it would move. Then, one of the bulls collapsed. Then, they replaced it with a spare bull from the back.
“That replacement bull also could not take it. They kept beating the bull, but it would not move. Then they replaced it with another bull.”
The restaurant worker who asked not to be named said police officers who witnessed this tried to stop the chariot handlers but were ignored.
The trustees have run the Thaipusam chariot for a total of 159 years – 122 years in the silver chariot and 37 years in a wooden chariot. The wooden chariot has since been donated to the Chettiar Temple in Medan, Indonesia.
Last year, PHEB introduced the golden chariot, which was met with objections from the Chettiars.
PHEB charged the Chettiars with sending the donations collected from devotees from the silver chariot to India instead of saving the money for Hindus in Penang.
The Chettiars have denied the charge, claiming their books were audited by the Prime Minister’s Department and the auditor-general.
PHEB had proposed the golden chariot in 2012 to mark the opening of the RM13 million hilltop Murugan temple.
The Nattukotai Chettiar Temple, built in 1854, stands at street level not far away.