Mumbai: Your morning cuppa will never taste the same if you know how the milk, which lightens the brew, reaches your home.
Some cattle sheds are so cramped that the cows cannot sit—they just about have enough space to stand. Not only that—cows and buffaloes are artificially impregnated so that they can produce milk most of the year. Bull calves, being of no use to the dairy industry, are left to die immediately after birth. Both the pining mother and the hungry calf are separated so that the bull calf doesn’t “waste’’ milk by drinking it. The life expectancy of the animals in the shed is only seven years, while their natural life span is 23 years.
Members of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an NGO fighting for animals, has brought out a report on the condition of cows and buffaloes in cattle sheds across the country. They held a press meet to show the scene of neglect at the sheds. Mumbai’s own tabelas in Goregaon did not come out clean as investigators found dead bull calves piled over each other in corners and ultimately taken to be skinned for the leather.
It started after the July 2005 floods in Mumbai when around 2,500 cattleheads drowned; the owners just left the helpless animals tied to their posts. The water rushed in, drowning them.
Following the horrific incident, PETA decided to investigate the conditions at the cow sheds across the country. They went to around 350 sheds only to witness horror stories of torture and sheer neglect. In many cases, the cows and buffaloes were forced to sit on their own faeces, breathing ammonia gas, burning their eyes and lungs.
The survey found that cows—who, like all female mammals, lactate only while nursing their calves—are forced to give birth every year so that they can keep producing milk throughout. They stay pregnant and lactating for at least seven months each year. Within three months of giving birth, the cows are made pregnant again, often through artificial insemination, the report released on Thursday, said. They are even milked while being pregnant and the mothers are not even given space to tend to their calves.
In one of the sheds, the team captured on camera, a village vet inserting his naked hand all the way into her uterus to shoot the artificial insemination guns—the animal could do little other than shudder in pain. In another cramped shed, a cow was constantly being poked in the eye by another cow’s horn—she just shook her head as she could not move away.
The surveyors also found that most sheds were illegally injecting the hormonal drug, Oxyticin, which causes them to produce unnaturally large quantities of milk. The drug triggers severe stomach cramps, almost like labour pain—the pressure of milk increases and even the most stubborn animal gives out milk.
One of the investigators from Mumbai N G Jayasimha said, the condition in the state was as bad as the others. “We may pride ourselves for being one of the largest milk producing states, but the methods adopted will put anyone to shame,’’ he said, adding that industrialisation of dairy farming has led to such cruel treatment of animals.
Jain Guru Sri Chitrabhanu, who also attended the meet, said it was unfortunate that cows were tortured for man’s need. “Imagine how we would feel if a mother is snatched away from her child. The milk is meant for the calf but instead we are getting it. It’s nothing short of stealing and is a sin,’’ said Chitrabhanu. Himself a vegan, he said, there were many substitutes to milk.
Some cattle sheds are so cramped that the cows cannot sit—they just about have enough space to stand. Not only that—cows and buffaloes are artificially impregnated so that they can produce milk most of the year. Bull calves, being of no use to the dairy industry, are left to die immediately after birth. Both the pining mother and the hungry calf are separated so that the bull calf doesn’t “waste’’ milk by drinking it. The life expectancy of the animals in the shed is only seven years, while their natural life span is 23 years.
Members of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an NGO fighting for animals, has brought out a report on the condition of cows and buffaloes in cattle sheds across the country. They held a press meet to show the scene of neglect at the sheds. Mumbai’s own tabelas in Goregaon did not come out clean as investigators found dead bull calves piled over each other in corners and ultimately taken to be skinned for the leather.
It started after the July 2005 floods in Mumbai when around 2,500 cattleheads drowned; the owners just left the helpless animals tied to their posts. The water rushed in, drowning them.
Following the horrific incident, PETA decided to investigate the conditions at the cow sheds across the country. They went to around 350 sheds only to witness horror stories of torture and sheer neglect. In many cases, the cows and buffaloes were forced to sit on their own faeces, breathing ammonia gas, burning their eyes and lungs.
The survey found that cows—who, like all female mammals, lactate only while nursing their calves—are forced to give birth every year so that they can keep producing milk throughout. They stay pregnant and lactating for at least seven months each year. Within three months of giving birth, the cows are made pregnant again, often through artificial insemination, the report released on Thursday, said. They are even milked while being pregnant and the mothers are not even given space to tend to their calves.
In one of the sheds, the team captured on camera, a village vet inserting his naked hand all the way into her uterus to shoot the artificial insemination guns—the animal could do little other than shudder in pain. In another cramped shed, a cow was constantly being poked in the eye by another cow’s horn—she just shook her head as she could not move away.
The surveyors also found that most sheds were illegally injecting the hormonal drug, Oxyticin, which causes them to produce unnaturally large quantities of milk. The drug triggers severe stomach cramps, almost like labour pain—the pressure of milk increases and even the most stubborn animal gives out milk.
One of the investigators from Mumbai N G Jayasimha said, the condition in the state was as bad as the others. “We may pride ourselves for being one of the largest milk producing states, but the methods adopted will put anyone to shame,’’ he said, adding that industrialisation of dairy farming has led to such cruel treatment of animals.
Jain Guru Sri Chitrabhanu, who also attended the meet, said it was unfortunate that cows were tortured for man’s need. “Imagine how we would feel if a mother is snatched away from her child. The milk is meant for the calf but instead we are getting it. It’s nothing short of stealing and is a sin,’’ said Chitrabhanu. Himself a vegan, he said, there were many substitutes to milk.
NO ROOM TO MOO: In most cow sheds, buffaloes and cows are cramped in such a way that they do not have place to move