Hindus protest at cow’s slaughter

HORSHAM About two hundred Hindus protested peacefully outside the RSPCA’s headquarters over the slaughter of a sick sacred cow at their temple while they were at worship. The RSPCA was accused of secretly killing Gangotri, a 13-year-old Belgian blue-jersey cross, by lethal injection at Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire.

A Hindu community leader, Gauri Das, said that police bundled away monks attending to the sick cow and were kept talking while a lethal injection was administered inside the barn.

The charity denies the claim, saying that it told temple staff “exactly” what it was doing before the animal was killed. A statement said that the cow was put to sleep under veterinary supervision and the method used was completely humane, causing the cow no extra suffering.

The temple’s spokesman, Vinay Tanna, said: “We are holding a peaceful prayer protest at the way Gangotri was killed. The RSPCA made the equivalent of a citizen’s arrest they went in and made the decision to kill the cow immediately. Given the chance we would have taken legal action to try to stop it.”

While the protest at the charity’s offices in Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex, went ahead, a further 700 Hindus held a ceremony at the temple to mark the end of the mourning period for the cow.