The magnificent Simhachalam Temple in the city Visakhapatnam honors the god Narasimha, the man-lion. 

Near the temple, Sri Ramachandra Murthy runs a cow sanctuary, in India called a goshala, Govardhana Gowrakhsahana, which he started around a year ago.

Pradeep Nath, the president of the Visakha Society for the Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA) has so far sent them 29 cows rescued from illegal slaughter.

Following a truck on the way to the slaughterhouse

On Saturday, November 7, Pradeep received a call from Srinivas, an aquaintance of his. He reported seeing a small truck filled with cattle, driving down the Vizianagarm Road.  Following the truck, Srinivas had been led to an illegal slaughterhouse near Mrs. AVN College.  Pradeep has long been familiar with this particular slaughterhouse since his early days of first rescuing cattle. It is less than a mile away from his house.

The slaughter of cows is illegal in nearly all Indian states, and this establishment appears to be selling cattle, but in reality cows, calves and bulls are being slaughtered there.  This is against the law, and it is said that they bribe the police to look the other way.

Out of town during this latest incident, Pradeep was able to keep in touch and give instructions by phone.  A meeting took place—with the media, the goshala, or cow sanctuary, people, and other local people.  There was a heated discussion, and in the end, the goshala was able to get five cows and four bulls released into their care.

18 bulls still left to be rescued

This was a disappointment to Pradeep since it left 18 bulls still at the slaughterhouse, on the verge of being killed.  It’s not always easy to try to conduct negotiations at a distance by phone.  This was all taking place at the same time that Pradeep’s sanctuary, the VSPCA, was dealing with an outbreak of Hoof and Mouth Disease.

On November 8, Pradeep spoke to a lawyer and to the police.  Pradeep, also a lawyer, was able to explain how to file the proper papers so that the slaughterhouse butchers could be charged in court.

At last the police filed a case under the Andhra Pradesh Cow Prohibition Act.  The case would be held in the lower courts.

On November 9, now back in Visakhapatnam, Pradeep was arranging for the rescued cows and bulls to be transported to the goshala near Simhachalam, since taking them to the VSPCA sanctuary would have run the risk of exposing the newly rescued cows to Hoof and Mouth Disease.

Since it seems that the police are paid off by the illegal butchers, it can be quite a challenge to get a case filed against the criminals. Having had a lot of experience with this sort of thing, Pradeep tried several different angles, including having the animals confiscated on the grounds that they did not have the proper vet certificates.

The law stipulates that cows being transported must be accompanied by a vet and an animal handler and must be certified to be in good health.

Pradeep then got ready to follow this up in court.  Having got the cows released from the horrible slaughterhouse, there were still many more steps to follow to ensure that custody of the cows would be in the right hands and that they would be safe.

Some rest for tired cows

Meanwhile, the cows were resting at the Municipal Sewage Facility, and the VSPCA was seeing to it that they had special feed, vet treatment, and drinking water.

On November 10, the court case took place, and Pradeep successfully got the court order to shift all the bulls that night to the goshala at Simhachalam.

Then he was busy creating grassroots committees to be ready to take any further action needed and to keep an eye on the cow slaughtering situation to be sure no more cows were in danger.

Somehow the slaughterhouse had managed to sell four of the bulls on the pretext that they were to be used for ploughing.  The magistrate insisted though that the bulls be handed over.

Tracking the middleman

One of the middlemen, a tribal person living in Nellimarla, a village about thirty miles from Visakhapatnam, is known to buy animals for slaughter.  He keeps them until he has enough to transport, so they’re in a very weakened state by the time they are finally shipped to the slaughterhouse.

The VSPCA followed him, caught him in possession of the four bulls, and warned him and the village headman that they will be prosecuted if they hesitate to return the bulls as ordered by the court.

The VSPCA had earlier gone to Hyderabad, the state capital a few hours away, to obtain the injunction requiring the return of the bulls.

If all this sounds confusing, it was a whirlwind of activity! 

Except for the states of Kerala and West Bengal, cow slaughter is illegal in India.  The level of corruption is so high though, that the laws are rarely enforced.

Between dashing about from one court to another, chasing the illegal trafficker to his village and ensuring that the cows had a safe place where they could recover, it was a busy few days.  All the cows and bulls were rescued.

Thanks to Pradeep Nath and the VSPCA for taking all the energetic measures needed to rescue these animals and ensure that they can live in peace and safety at the goshala.

Photos: VSPCA

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