Court Intervention Halts Healthy Cattle Cull
Forty-six cattle imported from Australia by the state governments of Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal have been saved from destruction by last-minute court intervention.
A total of 250 cattle were placed in quarantine in Chennai six months ago, along with other animals, because authorities believed they were carrying Bovine Viral Diarrheas (BVD), and Malignant Catarrhal Fever (MCF).
The National Commission on Cattle (NCC) and Bharathiya Prani Mithra Sangh, an NGO involved in animal welfare and nature protection, presented test results for 46 of the cattle to Madras High Court yesterday, showing they proved negative for the diseases.
After studying the findings, Chief Justice B.Subhashan Reddy and Justice F.M.Ibrahim Kalifulla of the High Court ruled the 46 animals should be returned to their respective states within one week.
They also ordered that remaining animals in quarantine should be re-tested for BVD and MCF at the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal.
