Dumped, these animals may not survive winter

Around 450 oxen have been left to die at Mubarikpur Trivedi camp, about 13 km from Chandigarh. Three and a half months ago, the animals were...

Around 450 oxen have been left to die at Mubarikpur Trivedi camp, about 13 km from Chandigarh. Three and a half months ago, the animals were dumped on both sides of the railway track near Ghaggar Railway Station following a protest by Shiv Sena activists, just when they were about to be taken to Bihar.

Since then, five oxen have already died of starvation and one of snake-bite, residents say. Others are at the mercy of the villagers and a factory owner-turned-social worker Kewal Garg who feeds them. ‘‘When the animals were brought, they were in good health. Now they are weak and would not survive the cold,’’ says Mewa Devi of Mubarakpur.

‘‘I have never seen any VHP or Shiv Sena activist helping the animals. They are on the verge of death,’’ says Radhey Shyam, another Mubarakpur resident.

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‘‘Killing them is better than letting them die of hunger,’’ says Vishal. They have been losing weight steadily and won’t survive the winters, residents fear.

A resident of Ambala, Rishabh Adlakh, has also asked Maneka Gandhi, chairperson of the Animal Protection Association, for help in providing shelter to the animals. Billa, a resident of Bulandshahr in UP who has been looking after the animals on behalf of Sher Singh (who bought these animals), says they had to sell their belongings to make sure they don’t die. ‘‘Earlier, we used to shell out Rs 30,000 per month on the purchase of fodder. Now we have no money,’’ he adds. ‘‘We invested Rs 7,000 on the purchase of each oxen. Now, they won’t fetch more than Rs 1,000,’’ he says.

Sanchalak of the VHP’s Punjab unit, Vijay Singh Bhardwaj, says their workers stopped the animals from being taken to Bihar as they would have been slaughtered there. ‘‘We do not allow anyone to take cows or bulls from Punjab for slaughtering. We are ready to keep the animals in different gaushalas in Punjab if the court allows it,’’ he says.