Carnivorous Cow Gobbles 48 Chickens
Slipping out for a box of McNuggets
Since we entered into some unworthy speculation a few weeks ago about Indian sacred cows – that was (here) – we feel it is necessary to follow up with an important piece of news on the subject that has recently appeared in “The Scotsman” under the encyclopedic title: “Carnivorous cow gobbles up 48 chickens.”
According to the Edinburgh paper – (here), at least for the moment – “When dozens of chickens went missing from a remote West Bengal village, everyone blamed the neighbourhood dogs. But Ajit Ghosh, the owner of the missing poultry, eventually solved the puzzle when he caught his cow – a sacred animal for the Hindu family – gobbling up several of them at night.”
Anxious to get to the bottom of the matter, Ajit and his brother Gour Ghosh had staked out the chicken house and, according to Gour: “Instead of the dogs, we watched in horror as the calf, whom we had fondly named Lal, sneaked to the coop and grabbed the little ones with the precision of a jungle cat.”
We are of course charmed by the idea of a sacred cow padding about in the dark “with the precision of a jungle cat” and pouncing hungrily on chickens. Veterinarians believe all this has to do with some kind of dietary deficiency, but neighborhood thinkers apparently incline to the theory that the animal may have been a tiger in a previous reincarnation.
The Scottish newspaper’s readers, being of course Scots, had another take on the matter. One wrote: “Mibbe the cow wis pregnant…mibbe it wis a cravin like eh?....mibbe animals git cravins anaw whin thir preggers….?”