Stray cattle in Tsr to be shifted to Coimbatore

Thrissur: The Thrissur corporation has decided to shift the

stray

cattle in the city areas to Coimbatore with the help of the Delhi-headquartered NGO Dhyan Foundation.

Mayor M K Varghese has said that it was for the first time a local body in Kerala was taking an initiative on its own to protect the stray cattle.

As per the

Cattle

Trespass Act, the stray cattle should be seized and auctioned periodically.

“Mostly such cattle are slaughtered. We didn’t want this to happen, and we wanted to protect them. The offer of the Dhyan Foundation to protect the stray cattle in their rehabilitation centre has come in as a big support,” the mayor said.

Though stray cattle flocking together has been a usual sight in the city, the corporation authorities were finding it difficult to give proper care to them as they keep wandering. On the other side, they were also causing accidents at different points. Recently, an ASI of Kerala police had died when the bike on which he was traveling hit a cow on the roadside.

There are about 50 stray cattle in the city currently, and about 40 of them were being kept in an enclosure near the North Bus stand area in the city, said corporation veterinarian Dr Veena K Anirudhan.

The mayor said that the Dhyan Foundation has excellent facilities to rehabilitate stray cattle at 24 centres in different parts of the country.

They are known to be protecting about 70,000 cattle in these centres.

“We have visited the foundation’s Coimbatore centre and we are satisfied with the facilities there. We are planning to start shifting the cattle by next week after signing an agreement with the foundation,’’ the mayor said.