Friday, 23 July 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
As part of its attempts to make the city stray-cattle free, the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) is currently providing shelter to about 1,500 stray cattle most of whom were picked during the Covid curfew. Within the first two months of this year, the corporation collected revenue of over Rs two lakh from the owners of cattle who left them in public places. Most of these cattle were donkeys, pigs, mules, horses and lactating cows for which people returned and deposited penalties to take their animals back. However, most of the cattle which are presently living under various animal shelters like Kanji House and Gau Sadan are cows and bulls which are either old or sick. According to the senior veterinary officer of the corporation, Dr DC Tiwari, 90 per cent of these 1,500 cattle include mostly cows and bulls who are old and sick. “We did not leave any cattle on roads during the Covid curfew and provided shelter to them. People mostly leave such cows on streets who have become old, stopped giving milk or are suffering from any serious disease for which the owners do not want to spend money. The bulls in shelters are mostly the calves that grow older on streets after people abandon them after birth as they are not commercially useful to them,” informed Tiwari. He revealed that there are about 800 bulls in the cattle shelters of the corporation, most of whom are injured, sick and old. The corporation is providing proper fodder and treatment to these cattle, informed Tiwari.
According to him, the corporation picks up the stray animals because they might pose a threat to commuters and pedestrians on roads but people who domesticate them should also act humanely. “We want to make the city stray cattle free but people also need to be sympathetic and caring towards the animals they domesticate rather than abandoning them on streets,” stated Tiwari.
Meanwhile, the officials informed that the corporation is also planning to take action under Uttarakhand Protection of Cow Progeny Act against the owners who leave cows and their progeny on roads and take them in only to milk them.
