The Karuna Society for Animals and Nature has been established in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, South
India since 2000. The Karuna Society (Karuna = compassion) works for animal
welfare and the environment by providing free medical care and shelter for
sick, injured, abandoned and abused animals. Since 2002 Karuna has rescued more
than 700 cows, buffaloes, donkeys and horses.
Around a decade ago, 35 cows suddenly came into Karuna
Society's care—when one cow died unexpectedly, a post-mortem examination
revealed a huge amount of plastic and other garbage in its stomach. Further
surgeries on the remaining animals found that all had plastic in their abdomens.
Since then Karuna Society has performed rumenotomies on around 60 cows.
An estimated five million cows roam India's cities,
with many gorging on the vast amounts of plastic litter on the streets. There
is no official, nationwide data on how many cows die every year from ingesting
plastic. But in 2017, a Times of India report cited veterinary officials and
animal welfare groups estimate, that around 1,000 cows die annually just in
the city of Lucknow from eating plastic.
A case In Faridabad,
North India highlights the country's twin problems of pollution and stray
cattle. A cow was rescued after a road accident by the People For Animals Trust
Faridabad. A vet soon noticed the pregnant bovine was struggling. In a
four-hour operation, vets found nails, plastic, marbles and other garbage in
its stomach. Vets at that organisation attempted to induce
labour of the pregnant cow but were unable to save her calf—three days later the mother cow also died.
The Karuna Society have produced a documentary entitled The Plastic Cow about animal rights, which looks at the impact of
man's dependence on plastic and how it is used and carelessly discarded each
day. Not only is this plastic an environmental threat, it also ends up in the
stomach of discarded cows; who have to fend for
themselves by foraging for food from community garbage dumps and the streets.
