Only high court can save Shambo the sacred bull now

[Guest guest]

A Welsh Hindu group has launched a last-ditch legal bid to stave off

the slaughter of their sacred bull, which has tested positive for

bovine tuberculosis.

 

After months of protests to save six-year-old Shambo, the temple

bull of the Skanda Vale Hindu community in the Welsh town of

Llanpumsaint, the regional government ordered his slaughter on

Monday because of health concerns.

 

Cows are sacred to the world's one billion Hindus and Sanjay Mistry,

spokesman for the Hindu Forum of Britain, which is backing Skanda

Vale, said he hoped the High Court would hear the case by next week.

 

" Yes, he has tested positive for exposure to TB but there's no sign

of him catching TB at the moment and he's in perfect health, " Mistry

told Reuters.

 

The Welsh regional government said Shambo may be slaughtered as

early as July 10, but that could be delayed until a ruling is handed

down, Mistry said.

 

Jane Davidson, minister for sustainability and rural development in

Wales, said she recognised " the strength of feeling " in support of

Shambo but that human and animal health took precedent.

 

" It is necessary to take measures to eliminate, as opposed to reduce

or minimise, the risk of transmission of TB from this bullock, " she

said in a statement.

 

Since the tuberculosis test results in April, the sensitive nature

of Shambo's plight has been evident, with Hindus across Britain and

the world expressing concern.

 

A petition to save the Friesian bull had garnered 18,505 signatures

by Tuesday.

 

The policy of Britain's Department for Environment, Food and Rural

Affairs is to slaughter any animal that tests positive for the

disease, but it decided this particular case should be handled by

the Welsh regional government.

 

If the court challenge fails, the temple has said it may hold a

religious festival in front of Shambo's pen. To reach the bull,

authorities would have to force their way past monks and nuns, which

would be seen as an act of desecration.

 

" The person next to you is not any more important than you are and

you are not any more important than Shambo is, " Swami Suryananda

said in an address at the temple this week.

 

" Everybody in the eye of God is equally as important. Only God has

the right to give life, only God has the right to take life. "

 

The Welsh regional government's decision on Monday to put down

Shambo came as Guru Sri Subramanium, the founder and spiritual head

of the Skanda Vale temple, died after six months in the Hindu

community's hospice.

 

[Reuters

London, July 05, 2007]