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India’s cows – sacred and yet tortured
Cows have a unique status in India: they are considered sacred. Hindus believe that countless deities live in a cow. When believers see a cow, they touch its hindquarters, as many gods live there, and then bring their hand to its forehead, which is said to bring good luck. The milk, urine and dung of cows are something special for believers. The Indian cow is worshipped. And yet the suffering of cattle in India is unimaginably great!
Since 2008, we have been working with our partner Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA) to combat the suffering of cows and other farm animals in India.
Due to its religion, India has a very good animal welfare law, but it is hardly enforced. There is a lack of controls, whether at markets, during transport or at slaughterhouses. There are more illegal than legal slaughterhouses in the subcontinent.
In recent years, India has become the largest beef exporter and one of the largest milk producers. The misery of the cattle in the land of the sacred cows is correspondingly great!
Selection of media reports on our engagements in India:
1. education and control at the temple of Simhachalam
Male cows are among the most frequent victims in India. These animals are considered inferior due to a lack of milk production and because they are unable to give birth to other animals. They are therefore sent to slaughter or “disposed of” by “donating” them to the church or a temple. Although the law forbids slaughter, the calves “donated” in this way are usually sent straight to slaughter because the temples do not have suitable cow shelters. Many of the owners, for whom the cows are ostensibly sacred, shift the responsibility onto the church with the excuse that they knew nothing about it. The male calves are even ceremonially decorated and sometimes driven up countless steps to the temple. Some break their legs or collapse because the journey is too strenuous. Behind the temple, lorries are already waiting to take the calves to the illegal slaughterhouses.
A special focus of our work against the misery of cows in India is therefore the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Temple in Simhachalam. The Hindu temple in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, who is worshipped there as Varaha Narasimha. Thanks to years of education, we have been able to reduce the number of calves donated from 10,000 per year to less than 2,000. However, the constant presence of the team is still necessary in order not to jeopardise the success achieved so far.
2. inspections of livestock markets, including reports of offences
Although India’s laws for the protection of animals during transport and at markets are progressive and many times stricter than in Europe, the reality is unfortunately completely different. There is a lack of shade and water at the markets, the loading and unloading of the transporters is hectic and sometimes extremely brutal, the animals are regularly beaten and the sometimes unsuitable transporters are completely overfilled. Bribes are the order of the day.
Regular inspections and corresponding reports by the local teams are the only way to combat this. In a country that has now become one of the largest exporters of beef, this is very hard and sometimes dangerous work.
3. rescue of street cows and financing of emergency operations for plastic poisoning
If cows, bulls or calves are not slaughtered or donated to a temple, for example, they are abandoned on the street. As a result, the animals starve to death, die of disease or die of poor nutrition, especially because they eat a lot of plastic lying around. In the latter case, this can lead to an obstruction or injury to the stomach and ultimately to an agonising death.
Again and again, sick cows are found on the street and are taken in at our partner VSPCA’s farm or in a Goshala (cow shelter). In addition, cows confiscated from illegal animal transports have to be taken in time and again. These include some “plastic cows”, i.e. cows that have so much plastic in their stomachs that only an operation can save their lives.
Together with our partner VSPCA, we are campaigning for a ban on plastic on the one hand and financing emergency operations for plastic cows so that they can then enjoy a secure life on the VSPCA’s plastic-free farm on the other.
4. Co-financing of the Kindness Farm
Education and monitoring are essential to improve the situation of the cows. At the same time, we want to offer owners a sensible alternative for male and/or disused cows. In this way, owners can be shown that these “useless” animals can also be of value to them. The Kindness Farm has been set up for this purpose and serves as a model farm and prototype of a new farm that demonstrates alternative forms of utilisation. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
