Indian cow patrols

“They are mainly vegetarian and many say they drink cow urine for a ‘healthy life’. Many of them, including Mr Sharma himself, believe that the Muslim man who was lynched by a Hindu mob over rumours of storing and consuming beef deserved his fate, and ‘when fights happen, people do get killed’.

“All of them believe that ‘mother cow’ is endangered, and conflate saving the cow with saving Hinduism. ‘The cow will become extinct within 20 years if we don't save them now,’ says Suraj Bhan Gujjar, a farmer. Although there are rising concerns over cattle smuggling in border areas, India has more than 100 million cows and buffaloes, and it's one of the top milk producing countries in the world.”

…

“The vigilantes are armed with sturdy batons, baseball bats, sticks, stones, machetes and sickles mounted on sticks. They use beds of nails on wooden slabs as road blocks to stop vehicles. When the going gets tough, they chase the smugglers on their bikes.

“The battle to save the cow appears to be a bit asymmetrical: the smugglers often fire in the dark to ward them off and the two sides often end up in high speed chases. ‘We are experts in dodging bullets. We jump into the fields when the smugglers open fire,’ says Babulal Prajapati, the TV repairman.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-34634892

Link at http://gatesofvienna.net/2015/10/gates-of-vienna-news-feed-10292015/#more-37735