Rights activist using radium straps on stray cattle to avoid accidents

Indian Express

21 hours ago

Mitul Vyas, an animal rights activist from Himmatnagar in Sabarkantha district, has taken up a campaign to fix radium straps on stray cattle so as to avoid road accidents involving the animals during night hours, especially on the highways.
'During the monsoon season, stray cattle sit on the roads to keep away from insects. These cattle are barely visible to drivers at night, resulting in road accidents. And to prevent such accidents, we are fixing radium straps around the neck of cattle so that drivers can see them through the reflection,' Vyas said.
Vyas said that he and his volunteers also fix the radium straps on the horns of the cattle so that it cannot be removed easily. 'Our effort is to prevent at least 10% of such accidents,' Vyas said, adding that they incur an expense of around Rs 10,000-15,000 a year for fixing radium straps on stray cattle.
'I have been doing this for the past four years. Earlier, we used to fix the radium strap around the cattle's neck, but it ran the chances of slipping through or the cattle owner removing the same. So now, we fix it on horns as well so that it cannot be removed easily,' Vyas said.
Vyas said that they are doing the job on the highways passing through Himmatnagar city.
'Compared to highways, the chances of such accidents are less on city roads. On average, we witness two such accidents every day. Yesterday, a truck driver hit a cow on the highway and it got stuck under the vehicle. The driver abandoned the vehicle and ran away,' he said.
According to Vyas, owners leave the cattle, specially the non-milching ones, on city roads, creating a traffic menace.
'There must be around 3,000-3,500 cattle in Himmatnagar city itself,' he says.
Himmatnagar Nagarpalika President Vimal Upadhyay told The Indian Express that the town is facing a big problem of stray cattle.
'We are planning to tag all cattle in the town after Janmashtami. There are around 2,500 cattle in the town, most of them belong to the people of Maldhari community. The Maldharis have agreed to the proposal to tag their cattle. Once all the cattle are tagged, the cattle found on roads will be impounded and the owner will be fined,' Upadhyay said.
Though the administration imposes fines on the owners of stray cattle, Upadhyay said that it has not been an intense exercise thus far.