Revered by devotees of Lord Krishna, cows and bulls past their prime are being looked after at an 'old age home' by a temple here.
"It is a very old practice among devotees to offer cows and bulls for fullfilment of their vows to Lord Krishna, considering 'his association' with them," T V Chandramohan, Chairman of Guruvayur Devaswom Management Committee (GDMC), which manage the temples, said.
He said most cows and bulls were donated years back and are very old now and not producing milk. As religion prohibits slaughter of cows and bulls,it is the temple management's duty to take care of them till their death.
So the animals were shifted to the old age home for bovines at Vengad, he said.
The management has earmarked Rs 72 lakh for renovation, improvement and repairs of the home in Malappuram district. The running expenses annually comes to around 2.5 crore, Chandramohan said.
There are a total of 1,055 cows and bulls, devoted to the presiding deity by worshippers over a period of time, now shifted to the "Gokulam" (cowshed) at Vengad, about 60 km from here, spread over 96 acres, Chief Veterinarian of the cowshed Dr V Suma said.
The aim was to use the facility as a "care station" for aged and unwell cows without any emphasis on milk production, which is only about 40 litres per day, as they were at the fag end of their lactation period, she said.
Though there may be several takers for the aged animals, especially from butchers and meat exporters, the management does not want to sell them, considering the "religious ethics as it will be equivalent to defeating the objective of devotees who offered the cows to Lord Krishna", she said.
"The proposal is to set up a most modern old age home for the animals", she said.
