Ashes of euthanised UK temple cow immersed in Ganges

The ashes of Gangotri, the euthanised sacred cow of the Bhaktivedanta Manor Temple in the United Kingdom, were immersed in the River Ganges on Wednesday.

Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Feb.13 : The ashes of Gangotri, the euthanised sacred cow of the Bhaktivedanta Manor Temple in the United Kingdom, were immersed in the River Ganges on Wednesday.

Gangotri was given a lethal injection last December after doctors of the Royal Society for Prevention Cruelty To Animals (RSPCA) declared it to be sick.

The priests of Bhaktivedanta Manor, a large temple run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISCKON) in a London suburb alleged that the cow was administered the injection when the prayers were going on.

The temple had taken the cow in after it was hit in an accident. RSPCA officials said that it was in dire condition and suffering from bedsores and had to be put down.

"How does it fee if someone is killing in your home. Your mother's interest is my best interest. She has bedsores and we understand she should be relieved of the pain; therefore, I want to give her the deadly injection and to give her that without even taking your permission. That's how we felt. And that was just devastating," said Gauri Das, the president, of the Hari Krishna Temple in the United Kingdom.

"(We have) written to Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister of Britain. We have also written to David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party and the Leader of the Opposition in the British Parliament, and to Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats in the UK. The response, I have to say, so far has not been so good," said Raj Joshi, Chairperson, Society Of Black Lawyers, UK.

This is the second instance of such killing in UK in last nine months.

Earlier, despite waging a long legal battle and a vigorous campaign Shambo, the bovine which tested positive of TB was killed in the same manner.

After the Court of Appeal's decision Shambo was slaughtered on July 26, 2007 after a court upheld it was a TB positive animal and should be killed before it posed a risk to public health.

Cows are sacred to Hindus. The priests of the Skanda Vale temple near Carmarthen where Shambo was kept even constructed a shrine to the bull within the temple.

ANI