No protectors for stray cattle in Mangaluru

Mangaluru: While cattle protection is a sensitive issue in the coastal districts, leading to violence on several occasions, dealing with abandoned stray cattle is a major challenge in the city.
The death of 24 buffaloes after being hit by a goods train in Angaragundi near Baikampady on Monday, has brought to light the urgent need to deal with the issue of stray cattle, mainly in and around the Panambur area.
Tauseef Ahmed, founder of Mr Rescuer, who rushed to the spot hoping to rescue the buffaloes said, “We could save only one buffalo that sustained an injury on its hind leg, and is currently being treated at the shelter of the Animal Care Trust. While this incident is shocking, dealing with stray cattle has been an issue for the past several years. These buffaloes live near the waterbodies close to the highway, and are often victims of road accidents, as they roam the streets freely, especially during the night. This is the first time that more than 20 of them died after being hit by a train. Treating these buffaloes and bulls has always been a challenge, as they are feral and well-built, weighing nothing less than 500kg. We have tried several innovative means to treat these bulls, especially with broken horns.”
According to locals, six buffaloes were abandoned a few years ago, and now their population has increased. Tauseef said, “It is unfortunate that on the one hand there is so much talk to protect cattle, but the abandoned ones have nowhere to go. They are mostly found in the streets of Surathkal, Kullur, Hosabettu and Baikampady. There is an urgent need to protect them, or shift them to a ‘goshala’. It is never an election issue, because people who work for them are also few in number,” he said.
Dr Yashaswi Naravi, veterinarian from Chitte Pilli, a wildlife rescue and research centre, said that he gets an average five cases of injured stray buffaloes each year, and many of them are hit by trucks. “Shifting of buffaloes in a planned manner to different goshalas is the solution to the issue. The government in the past had made attempts to shift the animals, but nothing has been successful so far,” he said.