Jaya Jaya Shankara Hara Hara Shankara,

With PeriyavA’s abundant blessings and grace, generous financial contribution from several anonymous devotees who supported for Korukkai auction cow rescue efforts with huge contributions and continued support and prayers from all our blog devotees and Periyava Kainkaryam team, we were able to pull out our biggest rescue operation thus far, on March 03, 2021 rescuing a colossal 275 cows in one go. To let you know how monumental this rescue operation is we had to employ 13 big trucks and rescued almost all the cows and calves that were in sight to be boarded in slaughter house trucks.

Viswanathan, myself and a couple of volunteers near by home (Shri Gopal and Murugaraj) geared up for the rescue and started to Melmalayanur the night of Mar 2nd at midnight. Cattle trading typically starts very early in the morning. As early as 4 AM, the market gets really busy. Cattle are transported overnight or very early in the AM from nearby towns and cities to be sold here. Our best chance of rescuing as many cows as possible, is if we make it to the market very early in the AM. We purchased rope and paint a day before. Rescue of large number of cattle can quickly get out of hand, if not properly managed.

When we reached the trading ground, we saw lots of poor cows and calves tied in clusters all over the market ground, standing in the darkness, unsure of their fate. This is always a difficult sight to see, as we know how stressful and depressing this can be for calves and cows.

We went around negotiating with sellers and quickly buying cows. By 8 AM, we had already rescued 175 cows and were continuing to negotiate. We have come across calves as young as 2 to 3 months old, being sold for slaughter. But what we found out about this white calf was gut-wrenching – it was only born the previous day – less than a day old, and it was already being traded for meat.

Then we moved to the area of the market where cattle already sold for slaughter, were waiting to board trucks bound for Kerala. We negotiated and bargained with them. By 10 AM, we worked out a deal with all trucks headed for Kerala and rescued 100 more cows. This brought our total to 275 cows. This had turned into a humongous rescue operation. As far as our eyes could see, our rescued Gho Mathas, Rishabams, calves and Mahishams were spread out – indeed a very gratifying sight to see.

As you can see in few pics/video, there is a slaughterhouse right there on the grounds of the cattle market. 6 out of the 100 cows we rescued were already sold to this butcher and by periyavA’s anugraham, we literally pulled them out of the slaughterhouse.

6 more out of the 100 we rescued were Mahishams (Indian buffaloes) bound for slaughter. Again it was periyavA’s grace that we were able to catch these in the nick of time. Mahishams are usually brought to cattle markets, offloaded and then loaded into slaughter trucks after cows are loaded. It is during this brief window that we were able to rescue them. We found out that these Mahishams were from other towns and were transported here overnight. Upon closer inspection, we uncovered the cruelty of chilli powder in their eyes. This is a common cruel practice suffered by cows headed to Kerala for slaughter – to prevent them from moving around, sitting down or collapsing and to ensure they are too weak to resist slaughter. See the below closeup video of their face with swollen and bloodshot eyes. Chilli powder must have been put in their eyes the previous night before transport and they must have endured it for an entire day. See how they were frightened when we went close to do the closeup videos.

By 10:30 AM, the market closed. We knew transportation logistics would be challenging. So, we had prearranged 13 trucks and 1 minivan to transport the rescued cows to Velliangiri goshAlA. The trucks starting arriving and we worked on loading the cows in.

Two of the 13 trucks did not arrive. So, we were further delayed by a few hours. Cows that were supposed to be loaded into these trucks were getting restless, standing in the hot sun all day. They had been standing since 4 AM, so more than 12 hours. As you can see in the videos, the cattle market is basically a barren ground with no trees, water facilities or rest rooms, no shops in the vicinity, nothing.

We fed the cows some hay, moved the calves to shade and gave them water. They were then loaded into trucks and are on their way to Velliangiri goshAlA now.

By periyavA’s grace, our work is done, but the cows have to cross one final hurdle – the 12 to 13 hour journey to the goshAlA. Calves will find it more stressful than the cows, but with no goshAlAs or caretakers anywhere in the vicinity of this place, we have no other option except to transport them to the goshAlA. Also, a total of 6 calves and 1 cow died as they were either not keeping well or too fragile to undertake the journey to Gosala. We tried our best to work things out but could not.

We place our worries at the feet of periyavA and the Gho Mathas traveling with the calves and pray and hope for the best. Whenever we do large rescues like these, we are faced with tough choices and cows have to endure a lot, but it is the best option considering the welfare of the cows, as they no longer have to fear death and can live their life in peace. Overall, this rescue has gone well so far.

Our Periyava had been updated about this rescue and we seeked his blessings before venturing out.

It has been exhausting for the cows and for us, but also very gratifying to have rescued a larger number of cows. PeriyavA’s words and anugraham keep us going. These cows are now safely residing in Vellingiri Gosala, Coimbatore.

I’m just posting a few pics and a couple of video clips of all the cows that were rescued and cows being transported. The entire set of pictures and video clips of this rescue operation is quite a lot and have been posted in the link for your viewing. Also, there are a lot of donors who keeps contributing for this noble cause consistently. Thanks is not the right word since we are on this together following Periyava’s upadesams, doing for Lokha Kshemam and Gho Mathas.

Sri Periyava Thiruvadi Sharanam.

Rama Rama

Click HERE to watch all the pictures and video clips of the rescue operations. Please double click on the image or video so it can be zoomed out or played.

All the 275 cows that were rescued and transported have been covered in the following clips below.

Categories: Samrakshanam

Tags: Gho Samrakshanam