A slum dog's life for holy cows

NEW DELHI - The bull stood on a filthy rubbish tip, silhouetted against the background of a run-down New Delhi neighbourhood.

It looked up, defiant, waiting. Was it the imagination, or did the bull really drag its heel through the rubbish, like some baited toro awaiting a matador? It certainly looked ready for a fight.

In an instant a group of young men carrying ropes rushed the bull and it set off. As it headed down a narrow alley, people scattered and children screamed.

One man, nonchalantly shutting the door to his house, looked up to see the bull trying to enter. One of the young men managed to throw his rope over the animal's horns. But the battle had only just begun.

In India's capital, cattle are sacred and yet often neglected. Cows owned by a farmer and milked regularly are often left to wander the traffic-filled streets during the day, creating chaos and causing accidents. Sometimes, the animals get hurt. It's not uncommon to see a lame cow limping through the evening traffic.

By law, the city authorities are tasked with dealing with these strays. And with the Commonwealth Games (and the subsequent impact they are expected to have on the reputation of the city) just a year away, officials are working to remove them from the streets. At the forefront of this effort are the teams of cowcatchers.

The dangers facing these urban cowboys are many. The horns of a bull can cause nasty wounds and it's common for the cowcatchers to come home with injuries. These young workers - the majority of whom are privately contracted and receive just US$70 ($112) a month - invariably have no health coverage.

Then there is the threat of the people who either claim to own the cattle or who disapprove of the supposedly sacred animals being captured and unceremoniously loaded on to a hydraulic truck.

"Sometimes people will fight with us and try to release the cows," said Lal Krishnan, 37, a good-natured cow-catching foreman who has been doing this job for 18 years. "Sometimes they throw stones. Sometimes they beat us up. I've been beaten up before."

On a recent outing, the team set off to the southern fringe of the city, an area known for its numerous strays.

It wasn't long before the first target was spotted. A decent-sized bull was sitting quietly under a tree. Surely they weren't going to bother this somnolent beast? But the truck screeched to a halt and the young men tore towards the animal, throwing a noose over its head before it got to its feet. That might have been the end of the matter had the bull not tried to escape by rolling over and then falling down a bank on to a parked motorbike. It looked painful.

By then, the truck had been reversed beside the roped animal which was pulled to its feet, cajoled on to the trailer via tail-pulling and then lifted into the truck. Blood was coming from a gash on the animal's hindquarters.

The team's second capture was less stressful. A stray cow on the side of the road was seized and lifted into the truck where it was tied up beside the bull. The team was making it look easy.

"The first thing you have to be able to do is catch the cattle with the rope," said Amir, 20. "You have to be able to stop them running. That is when you can get hurt. It can be really unpredictable."

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), which is responsible for rounding up the cattle, said about 1200 were captured every month. Cowcatchers admit they compete with other teams to see which can get the most bulls.

"The number we catch remains constant, but the number of cattle on the roads is going down" said Dr M. L. Sharma, the city's senior veterinary enforcement official.

Once captured, the strays are tagged with an electronic chip. Then they are taken to one of five Hindu cow sanctuaries, or goshalas, on the outskirts of the city where the cattle live out their lives. That, at least, is what happens in theory.

Stories abound that money often passes hands between officials and the cow owners and captured animals can be returned. Reports suggest cowcatchers sometimes catch an animal that has already been tagged.

- INDEPENDENT