'Cow database' launched to prevent illegal slaughter

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Increased restrictions on cattle slaughter in India may be serious for the slaughterhouses, but there are some funny moments.

Throughout most of India, there is a general ban on the slaughter of cows and calves. But the state of Maharashtra in western India recently extended the ban to include bulls and bullocks, CNN reports. Considering the difficulties in identifying the "victims" – a BBC article placed the state's cow population at just over 21 million – police in the Maharashtra city of Malegaon began asking farmers to provide mug shots of their cattle. "We are creating a database," deputy superintendent of the Malegaon police Mahesh Sawai told CNN. "If we get an information of a cow slaughter, we can quickly go to the resident's place and check whether it is there or not."

According to CNN, apart from the photographs farmers are to list distinctive features, such as tail length and colouring.

People aren't the only ones inconvenienced by the ban. The New York Times reports that animals at the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai – which is also located in Maharashtra – have to go without beef. The park's nine Bengal tigers, three lions, 14 leopards and three vultures must chow down on chicken rather than their usual fare. Shailesh Bhagwan Deore, who oversees the care of animals kept in captivity at the park, told the New York Times that he fears the leaner diet might have long-term consequences for the animals' health. BF