The mystery of the camels in Nashik

While the entire United Kingdom has erupted into outrage at the shooting down of two dogs belonging to a homeless man by the Metropolitan Police in London (an investigation has been ordered) and has now launched a nation-wide hunt for a baby donkey (foal) that was stolen from her mother who has since been rending hearts by her cries of desperation—almost like a missing person's investigation—India does not seem to care much for its own animals, one way or the other.

How else does one explain the sudden sighting of more than a 100 camels in Nashik, north Maharashtra two weeks ago—originating from one state (Rajasthan), passed through two others (Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh) and walked into a fourth (Maharashtra) without anyone turning a single hair?

Their arrival in Nashik caused some consternation among the people but not much concern among the authorities until some NGOs and cow vigilantes alleged they were being smuggled for slaughter. 

Guardian minister of the district Dada Bhuse ordered a probe and police then swung into action with  the Animal Husbandry and Livestock Management departments activated to look into the issue. The camels were moved to a goshala in Panjrapol, a Nashik suburb, but quite a  few of them have died mysteriously  at the Goshala, amid allegations that they were poisoned. 

The Forest department washed its hands off the camels, saying they were domestic animals and hence they were ill-equipped to handle them. Veterinarians who attended them in the goshala where they were housed were at their wits’ end ascertaining what was killing the camels. Several samples of organs and blood have been sent to three laboratories in Pune, none of which have been able to establish the cause of their deaths either, though poisoning has been ruled out.

It could be merely that the camels are out of their natural environment of the desert as many of them are said to be weak and undernourished although they are now being fed with several tonnes of jaggery, peanuts and grams in the Goshala at Panjrapol in Nashik. That has not stopped their mortality rate from continuing to drop however, though on Thursday a calf (baby camel) was born in the camp but its mother, in the classic symptom of an undernourished female, has not been able to produce any milk.

The calf is being fed by attendants with cow’s milk out of a giant bottle. That adds to the mystery of the herd—the madaris who were accompanying the camels have told the police that they arrived in Nashik from Gujarat where they had taken the camels for grazing. Why the story does not add up is that Nashik is a huge green  belt and popular grazing ground for sheep and goats—tribes of shepherds traditionally bring their cattle to various parts of the district every year from other parts of Maharashtra for this very purpose.

Moreover, the madaris have Aadhar cards registered in Tapovan, a slum in a Nashik suburb, so they clearly belong here. The Nashik Rural police who investigated have, however, established that they are neither smugglers nor were the camels being led to their slaughter. Superintendent of Police Shahji Umap has discounted rumours that the camels were being taken to Malegaon, a Muslim settlement near Nashik or Hyderabad in Telangana where they were said to be destined for sacrifice during Bakri-Id.

Camel sacrifice during Bakri-Id is not unknown in India but it is not very popular. Animal activists and some cow vigilantes who, however, made the allegations insisted that with a strict ban on cow slaughter that makes it impossible to sacrifice even bulls, some people are now sacrificing camels as goats prove too small for their purposes. However, consumption of camel meat is completely unknown in Maharashtra, the police have said, but they continue to be unable to join the dots or solve the puzzle—the madaris are residents of Nashik, so why were they grazing the camels in Gujarat?

There were women and children among those who walked the camels through Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, so why did the police in all three states, including Rajasthan, not notice the movements of at least 150 camels that set out or the carcasses of more than two dozen of those that had died on the way? For these are large animals and cannot be disposed of without being noticed. 

The madaris  told the police they were on their way to the South to fairs where they could give rides to children. But are such large numbers of animals easily accommodated at village fairs? The large numbers also raise suspicion that cattle herders and camel rearers in Rajasthan might have been seeking a way round that State’s  Camel Protection Act (Prohibition of Slaughter and Regulation of Temporary Migration or Export Act) that they have been protesting against for years on the grounds that it affects their livelihood. The act is also said not to contain any provisions for the welfare of the animals and their rearers which adds to the problems of both men and animals.

Other states in India do not ban camel slaughter but after the Nashik police discounted that rumour, they have approached the Rajasthan Police who have dispatched several “Raikas” (pastoral nomads), who are traditional camel rearers, attached to the Mahavir Animal Sanctuary in Sirohi and the Lokhit Pashupalak Sanstha from Pali in Rajasthan who will walk the camels back to their home state.

The madaris who had brought them into Nashik have not been aloowed to tend to them further as they belong locally and the  police are wary of further complications in case they get into trouble with the authorities in Rajasthan  in view of the continuing mysteries. Moreover, with several gorakshaks jumping into the controversy and animal activists demanding the camels be transported in trucks, rather than walked back to their home state as they continue to be weak and could die walking, the district administration of Nashik, sources said, wished to avoid a conflict as most of these madaris, though nomads, are Muslim and could be targeted in the neighbouring states of Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh as well.

Clearly, they have passed on the responsibility and washed their hands of the issue. Nine camels died in the Nashik camp and two are currently too weak to walk. Several have injuries on their legs and mouths that have not yet healed. No one will know or care hiw many actually make it back home.