Days ahead of Eid-ul-Idha (Bakr Eid), goatherds and shepherds from the States bordering Delhi swarm towards old Delhi’s famous Meena Bazar — the site of a huge makeshift market where goats and sheep are sold. Priced anywhere between Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 8 lakh, over 1.5 lakh goats and sheep from various parts of the country, including those from Ladakh, are on offer here.
Dexamethasone shots
The herders, meanwhile, throng to the vast wheat fields along the banks of the Yamuna, under the Geeta Colony flyover, around three kilometres away from Meena Bazar. With a pack of three to six goats on a leash, they come here to ensure that they appear plump — all in a matter of just an hour or two. To this end, the goats are injected with 20 ml of Dexamethasone steroids each day a fortnight before the festival. Add to this the body-building supplements they are given for over an year.
As the goats are led out of the marsh land, it is not difficult to spot the goats struggling to walk with their bloated bellies. One goatherd tried to explain this by equating the animals to women. “Goats have to look beautiful and plump, just like voluptuous women, so that they attract buyers.”
The animals are force-fed through a pipe. Around five kg of sunflower seeds are forced down their throats, which makes them thirsty as the seeds are not digested. What follows this is 20 litres of gram flour and salt water in one go. In fact, many goats die before they can be sacrificed.
The goats are pushed to such extremes so that they gain some weight and, thus, bring in more money.
What a customer doesn’t see is that the kidneys and liver of the animals are not functioning properly, thanks to the high doses of steroids and body-building supplements.
What it can do to you?
The practice of fattening goats not only impacts their health by causing water retention and breathlessness, but also has consequences for those feasting on the meat. “Due to the unwanted dose of steroids (by consuming the meat), the functioning of the heart, kidney and liver gets affected. Immunity levels drop and people fall sick frequently,” said Dr Narendra Gandhi, a veterinary doctor practising since 28 years.
At the Meena Bazar’s temporary Bakra Bazar, an intricate network of ropes is laid on the ground and the goats are tied by their necks, almost strangulating them.
Khursheed Ali, a goat seller from Mewat, said that such practices started recently and were only affecting the business.
Claiming to have never used these ‘shortcuts’, he said his goats were only given natural items.
The diet of his costliest 80-kg goat, which is priced at Rs. 2 lakh, includes two litres of milk and one kg of chana (roasted gram) every day, apart from fig tree leaves and water.
“These easily available medicines are eating away our business. Buyers cannot see the difference between a bloated and a healthy goat,” he rued.
Almost every goat seller The Hindu interviewed was familiar with the practice. In fact, bottles of empty Dexamethasone and gram flour packets were easy to spot. “Many goats are falling sick due to the weather, but no veterinary doctor is available here,” complained Mohammed Saud, who has the biggest enclosure in the bazar. He also owns the most expensive pair of goats, which are priced at Rs. 7 lakh.
Official take
But it is highly unlikely that his complaints will be heard because, according to the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the bazar is illegal. “We do not take action against the goat sellers as it involves religious sentiments,” said a corporation official.
While the municipal corporation provides veterinary doctors at slaughter houses, no doctor can be provided at the Bakra Bazaar. The role of these doctors at the abattoir is to check every animal before it is slaughtered.
Since goats and other sacrificial animals are slaughtered at home during Eid, the corporation doctors cannot intervene. “We do not go door-to-door to check. But those coming to the abattoir are looked at,” said Dr Hari Lal, a veterinary doctor at the Ghazipur slaughter house.
Even animal activists, who are aware of these methods, say that they have raised the issue several times with the police.
“We conduct raids but cannot take action, and the police doesn’t help as it is a sensitive issue,” said Saurabh Gupta, a raiding officer with Maneka Gandhi’s NGO — People For Animals.
Goats have to look beautiful and plump, just like voluptuous women, so that they attract buyers
