(IN): Cattle truck overturns, cows stolen by locals

February 17, 2009

tolen-by-locals/articleshow/4127243.cms

Cattle truck overturns, cows stolen by locals

14 Feb 2009, 0130 hrs IST, TNN

HOWRAH: Instances of locals and passersby looting goods from overturned

trucks are quite common, but this one takes the cake. A truck, loaded with

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overturned while approaching second Hooghly bridge, killing eight of the 25

animals on Friday morning. The rest, which survived the accident, were

frisked away by locals who pounced on the hapless creatures and disappeared

with them before police could arrive. It took police and locals nearly three

hours to remove the dead cows from the accident site, leading to a major

traffic snarl.

The consignment was on its way from Goruhata in Uluberia to Metiabruz. The

animals had been sold at the state's largest cow market by Sheikh Suleiman,

a

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As the truck started climbing the second Hooghly bridge, it came up against

a taxi that had broken down on the road. Trying to avoid it, the driver

swerved sharply. The vehicle turned turtle, throwing the animals on to the

road. Eight of them were killed instantaneously. As for the rest, before

they could stagger out of harm's way, a group of locals took them away.

When police arrived, they saw even the carcasses were being dragged away.

The officers chased away the looters and seized the dead animals.

Animal rights activists called for stringent action against the seller and

the buyer of the cows. Both flouted the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Act, since it is illegal to load 25 cows in a single truck, they pointed

out. " Each cow requires at least 10 sq ft space and you can't carry more

than 10 of them in a truck. Police should take steps accordingly against

both the seller and buyer, " said Debashish Chakrabarty, founder of

Compassionate Crusaders Trust.

Sheikh Suleiman lodged an FIR at the second Hooghly bridge police station.

The driver and the helper of the truck after the accident.

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