On Monday alone, KMC and the traffic police caught 18 male calves from Dallu, Samakhusi, Gongabu, Chappal Karkhana, Kalimati, Swayambhu and Gaushala. Stray cows, calves and buffaloes are generally caught and taken to a kanji house.[break]
KMC staff catch the cattle from the road and feed them dry straw and water inside the vehicle. According to the KMC officials, they catch stray animals once a week and keep them inside the vehicle until they are auctioned or abandoned on the outskirts of the Valley.
"The cattle are directly auctioned from the vehicle," said Inspector Dhanapati Sapkota, chief of the KMC security department. The animals which are not sold through auction are taken to Dhading, Sindhupalchowk and Nuwakot districts and abandoned there, he added.
Though KMC should have made arrangements for a kanji house to keep such stray animals. However, it keeps the animals inside a vehicle for two to seven days in lack of such shelter home.
"Considering their suffering we try to auction them within a week," said Inspector Sapkota.
While cattle owners in other districts demand compensation with the vehicle owner if they are killed in a road accident, no one comes forward to lodge complaint of their missing cattle here in the capital, he said.
According to the data of Metropolitan Traffic Police Division (MTPD), 13 animals have been killed and seven injured in road accidents in the Valley in the current fiscal year. Last year, 15 animals were killed and five were injured in road accidents in the Valley. The data does not include stray dogs and cats.
MTPD Spokesperson Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Pawan Giri said the injured animals are treated and later handed over to KMC.
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