Lakshmi’s life was saved at the Karuna Society for Animals and Nature, in Puttaparthi, Andhra Pradesh, by surgery that removed a vast quantity of plastic bags. Since then she has given birth to her calf, now six weeks old, and the two are happy, healthy, and well cared for.
However Lakshmi’s situation was not unique. It has been discovered that the problem of cows eating plastic bags is universal in the cities of India.
A profoundly moving documentary, The Plastic Cow, examines, not only the current plight of the cow, but also the long history of the cow in India, going back through thousands of years of reverence for the sacred cow. One young boy in the film, Vishnu, sums it up by saying, “Cow is God.”
The traditional worship of the cow contrasts sharply with the circumstances of the cow in India today.
Although the life-saving surgery performed on Lakshmi is shown in graphic detail, the film is beautifully done, with great dignity and perception, and a remarkable lack of blame or negativity.
The music, the narration, and the cinematography are extraordinary. The film speaks with the gentle voice of India and gives a very moving presentation of reality, with statements by well-known animal advocates; among them Clementien Pauws, Philip Wollen, Rukmini Sekhar, Dr. Chinny Krishna, and Pradeep Nath.
It is a true vision of India, encompassing all its multiplicity of paradoxes, with its beauty and its tragedy, and a call by the group, the Plastic Cow Team, to do away with the use of plastic bags which inflict such suffering on the cows and other animals of India.
The Winsome Constance Kindness Trust, in Australia, has provided funding for all the cow surgeries performed by the Karuna Society for Animals and Nature. The documentary was funded by a number of individuals and groups.
To view the Plastic Cow on YouTube, click here.
To visit the website of the Karuna Society for Animals and Nature, click here.
Photo: Courtesy of the Karuna Society for Animals and Nature