The goshala in Pandavapura of Mandya district has been receiving an unusually high number of male calves every day since the beginning of the lockdown. It has received 40 calves, all male, in the last 20 days. On Sunday night, it received 20 in a single day.
Usually male calves are sold days after their birth by farmers and the lockdown has brought this trade to a standstill. Farmers are abandoning the calves because they are unable to look after them, said animal rights activist J. Ruma.
Usually farmers never keep male calves of non-native breeds, but the lockdown has stopped the sale of male calves, said an officer at the Department of Animal Husbandry and veterinary sciences.
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On Sunday, the 20 calves brought to the goshala were seized by the police as they were being transported in a van. It was the first such seizure in Mandya district since the lockdown.
“There has been an exodus of male calves to the goshala. Villagers are abandoning their calves as they can neither feed nor sell them,” Ms. Ruma told The Hindu.