Cow as is very well known, is considered a holy animal in this country. However seeing the reality on the ground one cannot but help questioning that age-old belief of the Indian people. PFA Agra gets a number of calls every day through the help line that has been established and many a times we are informed that a cow is in a bad condition and needs immediate attention by us. Seeing the condition that these animals are in, one cannot but help doubt the faith of the people in their religion. Somehow their religion according to the books remains limited to just that - books.

There was a cow in "Loha Mandi" area (an industrial market of Agra) which was in a pitiful condition. Most of the cows actually belong to someone or the other, that is, they belong to them till such time as they are capable of giving milk. The moment they become old and incapable of doing so, they are left on the streets to die a slow death due to starvation. This cow too had been abandoned by it's owner not because it had become old but because someone had thrown acid on it's hind area and he did not want to spend the money needed to get the necessary medical attention. Because of the lack of medical attention that was needed, the area grew from bad to worse and got infested by maggots which slowly started to eat away into the flesh of the poor animal. Slowly it became septic and started stinking. Since the cow had been abandoned by the owner it was roaming about in the market area and started to sit there itself. Because of the awful stink that emanated from the infected area the shop owners did not want it to sit anywhere near them. So they started hitting the poor creature so that it would move away from there. It continued for some time till someone took pity on it and gave PFA Agra a call.

We got into action immediately and sent our team to help the troubled soul. On reaching there we witnessed one of the most pathetic scenes that we have ever had to witness. We started to tender first aid to it to clean up the area before we could provide it any further medication. Thus began our two week long treatment during which the cow recovered completely. Everyday we used to visit the area and treat the cow with the help of some people who came forward once PFA Agra took the initiative. It has been a very common observation that once someone takes the initiative to come forward and start helping the animal, others follow. But the first step is never from their side.

We managed to save this particular cow but there are so many more we never come to know about and they die a slow and a painful death just because their masters want to earn money from them but don't want to spend on them.