Goa, like all of India, is chock full of animals, domestic and wild alike. However, it is not so easy to capture the wild ones...mostly consisting of birds, far as I can tell...at least in the populated areas where I have been so far. ( It IS my intention to eventually make it to a tiger preserve! And hopefully to see some elephants as well.)
The question is, are street animals--cows, dogs, cats and chickens--domestic or wild?! Yes, they are prolific here in Goa, sadly enough. All eat garbage, unfortunately... and somehow, mysteriously, the cows seem to fare the best. The dogs are the saddest creatures... so many of them are mangy, flea-ridden and starving. The cows, by contrast, look fat and well-fed... but this is not to say their lives are so great, either... not by any means.
Most strangely, I learned that Indians who want to eat meat get around the law forbidding the killing/eating of a cow--still sacred in India--by killing and eating buffalo instead.
Really??? I ponder the absurdity of this. Isn't a buffalo a variation of the same sort of animal, after all? But... of course there is no undertanding this in any rational way, is there? Suffice it to say, Indians here in Goa love their buffalo meat..along with chicken. Lots and lots of chicken! Cooked in every way possible. They DO also eat eggs, so at least not every chicken is for eating...but certainly most of them are. So much for the illusion that India is a land of vegetarianism! If it once were true, doesn't seem to be anymore. But perhaps this is only the case in Goa, where the Christians and Catholics are the majority, not the Hindus. (This is owing to the colonization of this state by the Portuguese. Interestingly enough, many of the Indians here have duo citizenship of both India and Portugal.)
Still, I try not to think of the sad fate of the animals, and do my best to focus on how much I enjoy communing with them! They are certainly ALWAYS great subjects for photos and videos... and, you know me, I especially love the dogs and cows. Hope you get as much enjoyment out of seeing them as I did being with them!
First off, we have the fabulous buffalo:
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| This is the adorable calf whose photo reminded Nita of her "ex"! HOW insulting to this baby! |
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Truly magnificent creatures...just love the way the horns curve backwards over their bodies!
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| The young straggler, who couldn't keep up with the herd... |
Below--I DO hope the video will play-- hilarious scene of another, adult straggler this time, bellowing in his anxiety to catch up with his mates, who are up ahead and already disappearing around the corner. They are on their way to crunchy green pastures... hope this guy makes it there in time to get some goodies himself!
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| I googled why the egrets hang out with the buffalo, and this is what I read: "It is a type of symbiotic relationship in which both species benefit. Example: Egrets follow grazing buffalo and eat the flies and bugs that tend to bother the cattle. The movement of foraging livestock also dislodges various insects from the field, which egrets feed on." Isn't nature wonderful?! |
Next, my favorites: The various cows I communed with, all of whom like to hang around outside of the Hindu temples I visited. Why? No clue... perhaps because, being sacred to Hindus, they are most likely to be cared for and fed?! For some reason, so many of them were quite young...and SO adorable!!
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This fellow was loitering around, inside a train station, hoping for a handout. I gave him a bit of my bean stew...he then proceeded to follow me around the seating area, making a nuisance of himself,
until a man took pity on me and chased him out!
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| Cute but pesky... I should have known better than to feed him! |
Dogs--you already saw me with my precious beach puppies in the first Goa blog. So now, we have a couple more adorable dogs, along with cats, camels, a bat, a pig and a rooster:
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| I came across these two pups outside of a hardware store...most distressingly, they were tied to opposite poles--on very short ropes. They could not reach each other, though they clearly wanted to play together. It was quite heartbreaking to witness. So, which is the lesser of evils? I wonder... the "free" beach dogs who wander where they will but are constantly on the prowl for meager scraps of food, or these two (and other, similar pooches) who are kept tied up, on short ropes or chains, well-fed but wholly lacking freedom to roam or play?! I think I would prefer the life of the beach dog, myself... |
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| SO adorable, so constrained... I was just ITCHING to untie him and steal him away with me!!! |
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| The neighbor's pig... I tried to approach, but he was timid and ran away... |
Next up: not pets, but pet PEEVES!
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