'Sacred' bull slaughtered, UK Hindus outraged

BOVINE INTERVENTION: Shambo was slaughtered in London on Thursday amid protests.

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London: Shambo, the “sacred bull” of UK’s Hindu community, was slaughtered in London on Thursday amid vociferous protests.

But the six-year-old bull – suffering from Bovine Tuberculosis – has ensured the controversy it generated does not die down anytime soon.

"We are completely resigned, we did our duty and did everything we could to uphold the law of God. It's very sad that we have an ignorant government who are willing to desecrate a temple of an ancient religion and destroy life, unnecessarily,” said a Hindu Monk Brother Alex Skanda.

The plight of the bull had attracted wide attention since the diagnosis and prompted an Internet petition campaign by the Skanda Vale monastery to save the animal.

The Court of Appeal recently upheld the Welsh Assembly's order to slaughter Shambo, in view of animal health regulations.

The decision came after a lengthy legal tussle, with the Hindu community battling to save the bull.

“The point is that the animal is not for consumption. It is under care as a human would be under care. They wanted a similar treatment for the bull,” says Anil Bhanot of UK’s Hindu Council.

But authorities insisted that rules could not be bent. A Wales government spokesperson said that allowing Shambo to return to India would be a threat to other animals.

UK’s Farmers Union too asserted sparing Shambo would be unfair to the farmers who had their TB-affected herds slaughtered in the past.