Its all a MOO Point!!! :-)

Cow loses cool after calf goes missing

17 Apr 2009, 0224 hrs IST, Sandhya Nair & Joshua A P, TNN

MIRA ROAD/NAVI MUMBAI: The Thane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (TSPCA) and the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) are
trying to unite a cow with its calf separated after the latter's birth on Tuesday. The day-old male calf would wail for its mother who seemed to have gone berserk looking for the calf at Ghansoli in Navi Mumbai.

The cow delivered the male calf on the streets of Ghansoli on Tuesday night and soon left in search of food, leaving the calf in the middle of the road. The wailing calf attracted the attention of labourers who informed the Thane SPCA office on Ghodbunder Road. "We found the calf abandoned on the streets and so brought him to the SPCA hospital around 3 am on Wednesday,'' Thane SPCA president Shakuntala Majumdar said.

But, minutes after the calf was taken away, locals were stunned to see the cow return to the spot where it had delivered. So while the calf refused to be bottle-fed, the cow turned violent and started to attack anyone who approached it. Majumdar, who contacted the cattle-pound office of the NMMC, said it was natural for a cow who had just delivered to feel hungry and go in search of food. It returned to the street around 7 pm and continued to search for the calf till 9 pm.

Attempts to catch the cow have failed. "The only way to unite mother and child is to somehow catch the cow and bring her to the TSPCA hospital. We dread releasing the calf as it is a male and may head straight to the slaughterhouse,'' Majumdar, who spent several hours on Wednesday night trying to feed the calf, said.

"The calf got used to me feeding him and refused to be fed by other staffers. So, even after I left for home, I had to make mooing sounds over the phone so that the calf would have milk,'' Majumdar laughed. A woman staffer even wore the hospital clothes worn by Majumdar to feed the calf.

An NMMC animal officer said another team would be sent later to get hold of the cow.

Will put up further updates on the calf's current status...

Cheers!

Twinky