Environment

Bovine Companions

Delhi’s development minister announced a controversial plan to house abandoned cows alongside senior citizens, who will care for the animals — considered holy by many in India.

Gopal Rai points out how the Indian capital’s cow shelters are teeming with bovines abandoned by their owners once they dry up, while old people are put into nursing homes to live out their remaining days virtually alone.

He proposes adding an old-age home to a modernized 18-acre cattle shelter in southwestern Delhi, where “cows and senior citizens will coexist, taking care of each other.”

But a leading animal rights advocate says the scheme is “unethical because the government will be using the senior citizens living there for their labor.”