Hindu community protests killing of Shambo, the sacred bull

London, July 26 (UNI) Shambo, the sacred bull kept the media waiting as Hindu protesters gathered to pray for his life at a remote temple in Wales.

The protesters demanded that the inspectors obtain a warrant to gain access to Shambo after the Court of Appeal ruled on Monday that the animal should be put down because of the risk to public health.

Monks from Skanda Vale religious community this week lost their legal battle to stop Shambo from being destroyed.

The Welsh Assembly Government insists the six-year-old Friesian must be put down after failing a routine test three months ago.

The community and supporters began chanting and praying for the revered animal, which they consider sacred.

They have locked the gate and blocked the lane to their isolated community in Carmarthenshire, West Wales, with a parked car.

One of the monks, Brother Michael, said a charity in India had offered to take Shambo and care for him, but the authorities declined permission. He said: ''The Assembly Government's approach is that there is no value to life.'' ''They have said that it is acceptable to commit an act of gross sacrilege against the temple and the Hindu faith. How can killing be acceptable? Shambo represents the sanctity of life.'' Veterinary inspectors have been denied entry to a Hindu temple in Wales where Shambo, the sacred bull awaits his fate. Brother Alex, who refused entry to veterinary inspector Wyn Buick and two local police officers, said: ''We are not protesting, we are worshipping God. This is about the freedom of human beings to express their religious values.'' ''We are simply determined to do our duty, no more, no less than that. We can't be party to the destruction of life.'' The monks have constructed a special shrine to the bull within their main temple and insist that the animal is healthy and that its slaughter would be ''an appalling desecration of life''.

The National Farmers Union in Wales says no bull should be exempt from the strict rules designed to stop the spread of bovine TB.

A Hindu educationalist said that the monks have interpreted the religion wrongly. Jay Lakhani told BBC Radio Wales that Shambo should be put down for the ''greater good'' and that farmers had considered that wider picture.

The credibility of the religion had been put on the line by the actions of the Skanda Vale monks, he said.

Their interpretation of Hinduism was "naive" and "simplistic" he claimed. Mr Lakhani, who is the co-author of the book Hinduism for Schools, said his opinion was this interpretation was "seriously wrong" because it did not take into account the "greater context in which we operate" as Hindu teachings do.

He (Shambo) should be sent away with full pomp and glory saying that this life has been sacrificed for the greater good.

''If the life of one animal may endanger other lives or human lives as well, then we must take into account the greater good and sacrifice the individual good,'' he said.

''(The Hindu religion) says that it is necessary sometimes to use violence in order to uphold the greater good,'' he added.

Mr Lakhani claimed that farmers, who he said had been paying a heavy price in order to curtail the disease, were better practising Hindus than the monks at Skanda Vale because they considered the greater good over the individual good.

He also criticised The Hindu Forum of Britain for turning a "local issue" into a major story and making thousands of Hindus feel their religion was at stake unless they stood up for Shambo.

While Mr Lakhani agreed that the cull would be "very sad," he urged the Skanda Vale monks to allow Shambo to be slaughtered.

''The money that the brothers have collected and used for fighting the legal battles should be given to the local RSPCA in order to alleviate the sufferings of perhaps thousands of other animals,'' he said.

UNI