As the cow is legally protected and slaughter of cows is illegal in most states in India, this does not apply for buffaloes.  Nowadays the buffalo is the main source of milk, meat and leather production. Male calves are starved and killed for leather and the female buffaloes, once they are of no use to the dairy industry, are slaughtered in large numbers for the export of beef. At present India is ‘proud’ to be the largest milk and meat exporter in the world.

Karuna Society has rescued cattle of all breeds and colour for the sake of saving the lives of the animals.  Although in the early years we used buffalo milk to sell milk products, we soon learnt that without selling the male buffalo calves for slaughter, Karuna was breeding an ever-growing buffalo herd which we could not feed.  At present we have around 120 buffaloes, half male and half female, and we have castrated and sterilised all of them to stop their reproduction. As a consequence there is no income from milk, but Karuna chooses to feed and take care of the buffaloes for the rest of their lives. Karuna is the first cattle rescue project to have sterilised the female buffaloes.

           
Buffaloes are rescued                                Mother buffalo uses calf as pillow!

         
Rescued buffalo free to graze                  Our buffaloes need a shelter from the sun

The existing facilities are not sufficient to shelter all our 280 cows and buffaloes.  At present the buffaloes are out in the rain and the cows are under the shelter. In summer when it is very hot, the buffaloes have to be inside the shed and the local cows have to stay outside. Instead of sharing the facilities, the buffaloes need and deserve their own separate shelter. They continue to help our organic business, for instance, their dung is used for biogas and compost.