In India, more than 3,000 Gaushalas, maintained by charitable trusts, care for old and infirm cows. But there are many cows who doesn’t have proper shelter or access to food. Many of these are discarded because they’re not giving milk anymore or because the dairy
owner or farmer is unwilling to look after them. Most of these cows end in slaughter houses. Many illegal slaughterhouses operate in large cities such as Chennai and Mumbai. While there are approximately 3,600 slaughterhouses operating legally in India, there are estimated to be over 30,000 illegal ones.

According to research published in the Journal of Animal Science, 36 percent of cows raised for beef and 39 percent of cows raised for milk show signs of lameness and crippling by the time they arrive at slaughter. Because of the cramped, filthy conditions in which they are kept, many calves raised for veal are very ill by the time they are loaded onto transport trucks. Workers kick the cows or use electric prods to force them into pens before loading them onto trucks. Many are frozen to the sides of the truck or close to death from heat exhaustion upon arrival.

Like humans, Cows produce milk to nourish their babies. Through genetic manipulation, powerful hormones, and intensive milking, cows are made to produce about three times as much milk as they would naturally. To keep producing milk, cows are forcibly
impregnated through artificial insemination every year. The cow’s babies are generally taken away within a hours of being born. The mother cow will be hooked up several times a day to machines that take the milk intended for her calf.

Usage of plastic bags which we use and discard carelessly every day, often to dispose our garbage and kitchen waste. Not only are these bags a huge environmental threat, also they end-up in the stomachs of cows looking for food in community garbage dumps.
Owing to their complex digestive systems, these bags get trapped inside their stomachs forever and, eventually, lead to painful death. Through The Plastic Cow Project, Karuna society is bringing awareness about the consumption of plastic bags by cows, their surgeons recovered 30-60 kg of plastic bags, menstrual pads, nails, sand.. etc. stomachs of cows they saved.