Illegal Delhi Dairies Implicated With Cattle Abuse

INDIA – Dairy cattle in Delhi’s illegal dairies are being subjected to an array of welfare infringements, local authorities have reported.
calendar icon 12 May 2014
clock icon 2 minute read

Hot iron branding, hormone injections and street grazing have been flagged up by the North Delhi Municipal Corporation as part of a public crack down on unauthorised milk production, reports The Hindu.

The problem is widespread, with the number of ‘illegal dairies’ thought to exceed one thousand.
High cattle morbidity is a problem and the farms pose a threat to civic sanitation.

Corporation standing committee chairman, Mohan Bharadwaj said: “We have found cattle being branded by the owners so they can identify them.

“After finishing the milking, the dairy owners allow the cattle to roam on the streets, where they eat garbage and come under the wheels of vehicles.”

“There are about 1,000 illegal dairies all over the city, especially in places like Pitampura, Uttam Nagar, Ashok Nagar, Chandrawal, Tri Nagar – to name a few. We have started the process to seal them as they have encroached on public land and their overall condition is terrible.”

Offending cattle keepers will be dealt with by provisions within the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, a first for the city.

An animal welfare expert in the city described the way farmers tried to increase cow milk yield with the hormone oxytocin before cows became unproductive and many were abandoned.

“The dairies inject milk-giving cows with oxytocin, which is a Schedule H drug, explained Ambika Shukla, director of the Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre. “Basically, the cows go through labour pains twice a day.”

TheCattleSite News Desk

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