Death of a Mother

Pregnancy is a difficult time; it brings discomfort and pain to women: for animals it is worse. There is pain, uncertainty and fear. The way the man treated this eight month pregnant cow, crying out for help in a time of agonising pain, would surely want us all to writhe in the pain that shame brings.
The call came on Saturday, March 3 at 8 a.m. The caller was frantic. She said that a cow was whimpering and groaning in pain. She went on to tell the animal rights’ activist that the leg of the cow, had been broken.
The broken leg, in addition to being heavy with pregnancy,  added an unbearable appeal for help to the moans.
As the painful sounds tore its way from inside a place of religious worship in Kotahena wherein were several other cows, animal rights activist Shermila telephoned the place of religious worship and asked them what was wrong with the cow. She also went on to say that she was keen to bring a vet to treat the animal.
“That is so kind of you, it is okay, you can come and treat the cow,” Shermila was told by one of the trustees.
“As I began to get ready my friend from Kotahena called me again. She told me that the wailing cow was dumped into a lorry with the help of a forklift and taken away,” said Shermila.
“I immediately dialed the number of the place of religious worship and asked him whether it  is true that the cow was taken away. To which he replied that he  was sorry that he was unable to inform me about the move,” explained Shermila.
When Shermila made inquiries as to where the pregnant animal in pain was taken to, she was told that it was taken to another similar place of religious worship. She was also given a telephone number and a name to call. When Shermila called that number, the person who answered to that name had given her another name and number. When she called that number, that person had told her that he did not know anything about the cow and to call the original place.
“I telephoned the trustee again. This time the trustee told me that he will get them to call me and abruptly cut the line,” said Shermila.
Shermila on making inquiries, found out that the cow was taken to Wellampitiya. Frantic, she had called the second number she was given by the trustee. I later discovered that the numbers I got were those of people working in the place of religious worship.
“By this time he sounded better. He told me that the cow was transferred to a farm in Wellampitiya. When I told them I was going to Wellampitiya, they tried to get into my car. I did not like that and I told them that I will be going later,” said Shermila.
However, Shermila and another animal rights activist were disturbed at the obscurity of events and explanations. Together with another animal rights activist, they went on to make an entry in the Kotahena Police Station.
“However, we were told by a sergeant that the ailing mother cow was ‘really doing well.’ As I was told that the cow was doing well. I went back home. But there was something that was disturbing about the whole affair I was determined to go and see her,” said Shermila. On Saturday morning together with a doctor and another friend, they made their way to the ‘farm’  in Weliwatte, Wellamptiya .
Walking around the ‘farm’, Shermila and her two friends saw the greenery around but not the serenity. They saw living animals as goats and buffaloes, but they also smelt death. A covered section with a fluorescent bulb and table provided ideal space for sectioning prime meat. In corners  they saw mysterious heaps covered with plastic.
The air heavy with cruelty and a darkness unseen however could not lift away faint smell of death.
And there in a corner, heaped in a bundle, lay the pregnant mother – the fresh blood oozing from her nose. It formed into a puddle which the doctor identified as blood that could burst out as a result of a violent shot on the head. “Her water bag had burst and the water was pouring out…” cried these animal rights activists.
From her eyes the appeal had died but the tears remained. How frightened she would have been in these strange surroundings. How much she may have feared for the fate of her unborn. In her helpless state did she get the help she was pleading for?
Meanwhile, the doctor  (in government service thus not wishing to be identified) who was among these animal rights activists observed “Her eyes were open and swollen. Why was the animal taken away from the place of religious worship? Why did not they help to deliver the calf and why the need to transfer to another far away place? This transfer would have been traumatic. A forklift was used to get her into the lorry and taken. All that would have caused untold pain and trauma to this pregnant animal. Why was it taken away from the premises and what is the fate of the other cows in there?”
They stood there in that ‘farm’ gazing  at the pregnant animal that had suffered to death. Then came the man who  ran the ‘farm’, his sarong hiked up and a machete in hand. “He threatened to cut me up with the machete for taking photos. He kicked me on my leg,” alleged Shermila.
As the man stood over the animal with machete in hand – saving their own lives – the trio ran, tears pouring down their cheeks at their inability to save a mother in labour from reaching being processed in a farm.