Cops, welfare orgs help free 2,000 cattle

Hyderabad: Over 2,000 cattle were rescued from the clutches of mafia in just the last two months from different districts of Telangana with combined efforts of Gau Gyan Foundation, Telangana Police and State Government, with more than 50 FIRs being registered.

The cattle were put through harsh living conditions, rough handling, and often outright abuse and cruelty. They are routinely castrated, dehorned, and hot-iron branded without anaesthetics. Those transported to feedlots and slaughterhouses were often shocked with electric prods, beaten, kicked, dragged and deprived of food and water for long periods. Crammed in trucks during transport, their limbs get broken, they sustain multiple injuries and infections. Young calves were slaughtered in front of their mothers and kin.

Telangana State Prohibition of Cow Slaughter and Animal Preservation Act 1977 (Sections 3, 5, 6, 10, 11), PCA act 1960 (Sections 11, 38), Transport of Animals Rules 1978 (Section 56 A,B,C) and IPC 428 and 429 as also the rulings of Supreme Court and High Court of AP & Telangana – all point that the activities of the mafia were illegal and punishable under Indian Law. To tackle the problem of illegal cattle transport, Telangana police also set up interstate and inter-district checkposts and cattle holding centres equipped with veterinary support.