INDIA. Mumbai: Over 50 cows died of suspected acidosis, a metabolic disease, at a cow shelter at the Kaneri Mutt at Kolhapur in Maharashtra, where at present a 7-day “Sumangal Panchmahabhoot Lokotsav” is going on.
While local media in a union claimed that the death toll was over 50, due to consumption of left-over dry rotis, a state animal husbandry department official claimed that 12 cows had died so far (three on Thursday and nine on Friday). Twelve more cows were being treated, and they were stable. A team of veterinarians has been treating the cows at the spiritual center, he added.
Acidosis is a type of food poisoning that is caused by the consumption of cooked food. It is characterized by too much acid in body fluids. The cattle are not used to consuming cooked food, and the cows might have been fed such food inadvertently.
An exhibition and various food stalls have been set up to convince people of the importance of the environment and animals. The food prepared in bulk in anticipation of a large number of people is said to have gone to waste due to a small number of people attending the Lokotsav, and heaps of rotis and chapattis were seen dumped everywhere. This food is being fed to the animals, and there is a possibility that the cows died due to poisoning.
Kaneri Math is the highest seat of the Kadsiddheshwar tradition. Its cow shelter has more than 1,000 bovine animals. “Sumangal Panchmahabhoot Lokotsav,” organized by the “Shree Kshetra Siddhagiri Mahasansthan” of Kaneri Math at Karveer tehsil, was inaugurated on February 20 by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
At present, a post-mortem examination is being carried out. While Mutt office bearers refused to provide any information, volunteers at the Mutt attempted to rough up scribes covering the incident in which Bhushan Patil (of TV-9) and a cameraman accompanying him, among others, were beaten up. Condemning the incident, the Kolhapur Press Club registered a complaint with the Gokul Shirgaon MIDC Police Station, demanding stern action against those responsible for the attack.
Similarly, Swapnil Bapat and Pandurang Sarode, president and general secretary, respectively, of the Pune Working Journalists’ Association, demanded immediate disciplinary action against the mastermind behind the attack.
They demanded action under the Maharashtra Media Persons and Media Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage or Loss to Property) Act, 2017, against the guilty. This act provides for three years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 for those convicted.
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