While Hindus are forbidden from harming cows, bulls and calves are fair game. According to animal activists, who observed Thursday as World Bull day, around 80,000 calves are forcibly put to death every year in the city so that the milk meant for them can be bottled for human consumption.
On Thursday, villages and tabelas in and around the city saw volunteers from different NGOs paying visits to vaccinate the animals and educate the dairy farmers. They are also putting up posters at schools and colleges with information on the cruel practices.
“Every year, we conduct health check-ups and vaccination camps for the bullocks. We give the bulls anti-tetanus injections, as they are surrounded by stones and metals all the time. We also go on inspection rounds to check whether the animals are being ill-treated, and try to educate the farmers on the proper treatment of bullocks,” said Nilesh Bhanage, founder, Plant and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).
The NGO has registered several complaints against tabela owners for ill-treating young calves. “We have discovered several cases where the calf was skinned alive and hung in front of the mother to increase the milk production,” said Bhanage.
Several tabelas, in the city and on the outskirts, supplement the city’s demand for milk. When a cow or buffalo gives birth to calves, only the female are kept, while the bulls are sent to the slaughter house or sold to farmers in the villages for agricultural purposes.
Two-week-old calves are also used for producing leather products. As per a rough estimate, around 40 bullocks are used by farmers for rice production in nine villages near Dombivli.
The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO), an NGO that works for farm animals, has also started its awareness programme. “We have written a protest letter to chief minister Ashok Chavan to bring the bull races conducted in rural Maharashtra to his notice. We want the government to ban this sport as it is cruel,” said Sowmya Reddy, manager, current event response centre, FIAPO.
