Every Sunday night, a whopping 200 trucks loaded with silently suffering animals stealthily make their way out of the city. Their destination: slaughter houses in Kerala.
Only last Sunday, four trucks were stopped and seized at Perungalathur by activists of People for Cattle in India (PFCI), and a head count showed 103 animals, including 71 buffalos and 33 white cattle. “Out of them, seven buffalos appeared to be pregnant,” said S Murali of PFCI. “Also, one black animal looked like an indigenous wild Indian bull and had a majestic appearance.”
While the rescued cattle were shifted to the Indian Institute of Animal Welfare, a goshala run by Sadhana Rao at Neelangarai and Tiruvallur, the activists lodged an FIR at Peerkankaranai police station. This is the third case of illegal cattle trafficking detected by PFCI in the last four months. On December 21, two trucks transporting 45 cattle were intercepted, while four trucks with 122 cattle were seized on January 5 by the NGO.
By their estimate, around 600 trucks belonging to about 100 owners are engaged in the cattle trafficking trade, the demand mainly fuelled by a growing shortage of bovine animals in Kerala, Arun Prasanna of PFCI pointed out. Besides, India being the largest exporter of beef in the world, the packaged animal products make their way to the Middle East, Vietnam and Malaysia through the slaughter houses and processing units in that state, he said.
The route is almost always the same: the loaded trucks begin their journey from Tada in Andhra Pradesh and roll down via Kavarapettai, Chennai, Ottanchathiram, Pollachi and enter Palakkad in Kerala. What the activists find baffling is the fact that a majority of them manage to reach their destination without getting caught despite the presence of several tollgates and check posts along the way. This, they feel, raises questions whether the authorities are turning a blind eye to the flourishing illegal trade or are hand-in-glove with the truckers.
According to N G Jayasimha, campaign manager, Humane Society International, the animals undergo immense suffering as they are transported long distances for slaughter. “With no shade, no water, no ramps for loading and unloading, no space and tied to each other, some die along the way, while some are beaten up and suffer injuries,” he said. Added Prasanna: “Each truck is permitted to carry only six animals, but the vehicles are usually cramped.”
What is more, at the slaughter houses, the animals are killed in full view of each other, Jayasimha said. “They are not killed outright, but hammered to death,” Prasanna echoed. Murali, who is PFCI treasurer, stressed that his organisation was not against slaughter. “But what comes under the butchers’ knife are milch cattle, in several instances pregnant animals and calves,” he said. “An unborn calf is considered a delicacy in many countries and in order to prove that to the customers the mother’s udder is stitched inside them,” he rued. There is nothing sacred about the way Indians treat their cattle, the activists said. “From birth to death, they provide us with milk, butter, ghee and other products, but they are systematically being butchered today,” PFCI said. If the trafficking continued unchecked, a time may come when the country faces an acute shortage of these animals, it warned.
The activists feel that while India has the finest laws pertaining to animal welfare, the problem has always been one of enforcement.
