Buffalo, injured in accident, left to die in Vijayawada

It was shifted to a dump yard where vets administered medicines in vain

Municipal workers drag a buffalo that suffered injuries in a hit and runaccident near Raghavaiah Park on Bandar Road in Vijayawada on Tuesday.Photo: V. Raju

This is a story that will give all animal-lovers goose-bumps and fill them with rage. A stray buffalo rendered immobile in an accident was put through agony until it died.

It was a disturbing scene near Raghavaiah Park on Bandar Road on Tuesday. At around 7.30 a.m., municipal corporation workers were seen trying to shift a buffalo that was grievously injured in a hit-and-run accident.

The municipal workers could not lift the injured animal. A worker tried to drag it by the tail. The plan did not work out. And his companions literally rolled the buffalo to the edge of the road.

The passers-by suggested to the workers to tie the legs and lift it with a pole. Some others told them to take the buffalo to veterinary hospital, which was just one-and-half-km away. The suggestions went in vain. The workers simply said they were not authorised to take the buffalo to the hospital. The municipality shifts only dead animals, they said.

The municipal authorities said they had to trace the owner of the buffalo, and he should take care of it. The authorities did not seem worried about the animal surviving until the owner was traced. The authorities even said they did not have proper vehicles to shift the injured animals. The workers just covered the buffalo with a tarpaulin and left.

With the increase in traffic on the road, the police asked the corporation officials to arrange a vehicle to shift the animal. Only then was the animal taken to a garbage dump near the non-functional EXCEL plant.

Veterinary doctors administered saline and medicines to the animal but in vain. The buffalo died and was buried at the dump yard. The municipal authorities said the buffalo suffered injury on the spinal cord.

The police said a speeding car hit the buffalo during the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday. Police put up barricades to caution the road-users on the buffalo that was still alive despite severe injuries. It was unable to move on its own and was lying on its side until the VMC workers came and shifted it to the road side.