Holy Cow! At Gandhidham, dying cattle are overrunning streets, and overwhelming administration

Although official reports state that over 3,000 cattle have died from the Lumpy Skin Disease in Rajasthan and Gujarat, locals say the numbers could be higher.

A dog eating a cow carcass at a mass burial site at Samakhiali, Kutch | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Gandhidham (Kutch, Gujarat): A stray dog is tugging at a half-eaten cow carcass that lies on a plot of land.  

The carcass was dumped here by the local administration. The cow, like many others here, died of lumpy skin disease (LSD) now dotting the streets here. 

Caused by a capripox virus, LSD is a viral disease that affects both cows and buffaloes. It has, according to official reports, claimed more than 3,000 cattle in nine districts of Rajasthan and at least 14 districts of Gujarat. 

But locals who have been working to treat the animals suggest that numbers could be much higher.

ThePrint witnessed 18 deaths at a single camp in Gandhidham in just one evening.

The streets here are full of infected and untreated cattle too, increasing the risk of spread.  

Unable to keep up with the death toll, local gau rakshaks (or cow ‘protectors’) have dug mass graves where cattle that have succumbed to the disease are dumped day after day.

Supported by NGOs, gaurakshaks, religious organisations, and leaders from Vishva Hindu Parishad and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Sewa Sadhna, volunteers from the community have come forward to collect, medicines and food for the cattle. 

But local sources allege that most of the spread has been among stray cattle that have been abandoned on the streets after they stopped giving milk. 

With a ban on cow slaughter in the state, the number of such strays has risen in the state over the last few years.

Local volunteers attend to an infected cow on saline drips at Gandhidham in Kutch, Gujarat | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

An infected calf at the Gandhidham cattle camp | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

‘Gau rakshak’ soothing a dying cow at the Gandhidham cattle camp | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

A cow that succumbed to the lumpy cow disease is carted away for burial as its infected companion looks on at Gandhidham | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Cattle killed by the lumpy skin disease are being loaded on to tractors for mass burial at Gandhidham | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

A portrait of hope | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Ailing cattle on saline drips await treatment, or death, at Gandhidham’s cattle camp | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Dog eating dead cow dumped by the local administration at Kandla Gandhidham in Kutch | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Cow carcasses being dumped in a mass grave near Gandhidham | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

A mass grave being covered with salt near Gandhidham | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Men by cow carcasses dumped on a plot of land at the Kandla Gandhidham | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

A young boy swats away flies and mosquitoes at a cattle camp | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

An infected cow and  calf feed on a mix of jowar and jaggery | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Gaurakshaks carry a diseased cow to a more comfortable spot at Gandhidham | Praveen Jain | ThePrint

Veterinarians attend to a dehydrated and infected cow at Gandhidham | Praveen Jain | ThePrint