Rescued cows will now have a purpose-built home, at least in Jharkhand. The state’s BJP-led government has factored in a cow hostel, when planning the state’s budget for the fiscal year 2019-20; the hostel will mainly offer shelter to cows rescued from cattle smugglers, though stray cows will also find a home there.

The first such hostel for hooved guests will come up in Lohardaga district and later in all others in a phased manner. State Animal Welfare Board (SAWB) member secretary Chittaranjan Kumar said, “We have around 20 acres of land in Lohardaga and will set up the hostel on 10 acres and house 200 cows.”

Jharkhand is notorious for cattle traffickers: an average of 500 animals are rescued from cattle smugglers in the state every month. But since there are no government-owned cow shelters, the rescued creatures are sent to the 27-odd private ‘gaushalas’ in the state. But often, police find it hard to accommodate the cows in them, because they are already filled to capacity.

The Lohardaga hostel will have drinking water, cow sheds, and grazing fields, but Dr Shivanand Kansi, SAWB veterinary officer, said that managing fodder for the animals was an uphill task. This is one of the reasons why there are plans afoot to produce fodder on the premises of the Lohardaga hostel and also use cow dung and urine for commercial purposes to make the hostel self-sustaining.

The board also plans to roll out 10 ultra-modern cow ambulances, each costing around Rs 18 lakh, across five divisions of the state. They will be fitted with hydraulic lifts to pick up injured cows and ferry them safely to a veterinary hospital.

Cow care

Land require for cattle hostel: 5-10 acres

Capacity of hostel: 200 bovines

Number of hostels proposed to be set up: 24

First hostel to come up: Lohardaga

Benefits of cattle hostel: Special care to rescued or stray bovines

Average heads of cattle rescued per month in Jharkhand: 500

Number of gaushalas in Jharkhand: 27

Cattle population in gaushalas: More than 20,000

EOM

First Published: Jan 24, 2019 10:33 IST