Written by PETA
We’d like to share a moving story from our friends at Animal Rahat, the PETA-supported working-animal rescue group in India, about a bullock who had a hard life.
When he came to us, Shilya was a 22-year-old cart-pulling bullock whose owner, Santosh Masal, loved him. When Mr. Masal realized that Shilya had become too old to work, instead of selling him for slaughter, which is what most cart owners do to their long-suffering cattle (so as to squeeze the last bit of money out of them), he visited Animal Rahat. He was very happy to see that all animals at our retirement facility were free to wander around without any ropes and spent their lives socializing, napping, relaxing in the shade, listening to the birds’ songs, and eating very well. Mr. Masal told our vets that Shilya had done a lot of work for him for two decades, and now that he was too old to work, he wanted to retire Shilya. And that’s what happened.
According to our vets, Santosh Masal was the very first bullock owner who was that kind and who thought of the well-being of his animal first. This week, Shilya lost his strength, and the vets made him as comfortable as possible in his final hours. With Mr. Masal at his side, Shilya slipped away to dance with Krishna and Shiva, and his body is buried at Animal Rahat.
Written by Sanjay Mehta
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