Article by:-Dr.N.B.Shridhar MVSc,PhD
Principal Investigator and Head
Obscure Cattle disease Research Center
Veterinary College Campus, Vinobanagar, Shivamogga
Being a veterinarian and a responsible citizen, Today on 5th june on the occasion of world environment day, i thought to bring the burning issue of plastic menace in cows to notice before the common people for general awareness.We as a vet come across with plastic related cases in cows particularly in urban areas.
We everyone knows how hazardous plastic is for the environment. Whenever we throws something like paper, food etc in the environment, there are some bacteria which grows on it, and covert this food, papers into something which mixes into the environment, some turning into useful for growing of trees, we call those items as biodegradable items. Biodegradable items are capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms and thereby avoiding pollution.
Whereas Plastic is a “Non-Biodegradable” item. Non-biodegradable waste is a type of waste that can not be broken down into its base compounds by micro-organisms, air, moisture or soil in a reasonable amount of time. Non-biodegradable waste is an environmental concern, as it threatens to overwhelm landfills and create disposal problems.
Cattle also represent prosperity and abundance in the Indian community. They are the farmers’ backbone. They substitute for human or mechanical labor on the farms, provide nourishing milk, their dung is used as fuel, and their urine is a powerful organic pesticide. So it is not strange that we worship them, and slaughtering them is considered a moral and legal crime.
Today in this changing world, their neglect is almost astonishing. Globalization has forced farmers to give up on traditional farming practices, and the prominence of these animals has diminished. The festivities moved to the cities, and idols of the animals replaced the actual ones, to be more convenient for people. But things changed so gradually that no one noticed when they started following just the rituals without their actual purpose. Now, these animals are left on the roads to fend for themselves.
The open garbage system in India is a huge menace to the well-being of stray animals. I have seen stray cows and bulls on the roads, chewing on something from the open garbage bins and looking for anything edible to survive. My uncle was even in an accident when his car struck one of these stray cows, a common occurrence.
The plight of these animals has become a major concern to society. They are discarded, and then people discard waste in plastic bags, and the animals searching for food consume the plastic, along with the leftover food materials. The plastic gets accumulated in their rumens and becomes hard. These animals look healthy, but that is just an illusion — they often die a slow and a painful death due to starvation.
The government of India has banned plastic carry bags below 50 microns, and has come up with stringent waste-responsibility laws in the new plastic waste management rules. This has resulted in stores charging extra money for plastic carry bags in order to encourage customers to bring their own shopping bags. However, these measures haven’t resulted in the significant impact that India really needs.
The real change can only be brought about when consumers are made aware of the amount of plastic entering the environment every day and how their refusal to buy or use plastic products is the ultimate solution. A new law to govern the handling of electronic waste by bringing the producers of electronic goods under “extended producer responsibility” sounds promising. However, the law should be imposed on not just electronic companies, but companies producing plastic carry bags, water bottles and any single-use plastic products. This will ensure that there is a proper take-back mechanism and that the waste is reduced considerably.
Harmful Effects of Plastic on Cows—
Rumen impaction due to plastics or rexins are referred as “ Non penetrating Foreign Body Syndrome”. Over a period of time, these materials make large tight balls inside the rumen leading to anorexia, decreased production and progressive loss of body condition (Tyagi and Jitendra Singh 1993., Kohli et al., 1998). It is a common menace in most of the major cities in India where plastic is used abundantly. Though, there is no such systematic study on polythene and plastic induced pathological lesions in animals. However, there are scattered reports in literature and that too in popular media. It has been recorded that 95% of urban stray cattle in India suffering from various ailments due to hazardous material inside their abdomen, out of them 90% are plastic bags. Sometimes, higher incidence of 96.02% was noticed in adult cows (Vanitha et al., 2010).
The dairy and cattle owners are responsible for the plights of cows after milking them in the morning. They allow the cows and virtually push them out of shelters to find food available in dumps of debris lying around the city. Stray cows are generally seen on the roadsides eating away the plastic bags and their contents in search of food items. The ingested polythene hinders the process of fermentation and mixing of contents leading to indigestion. They also obstruct the orifice between reticulum and omasum. If not removed though surgery, polythenes may become fatal. The plastic bags cannot be digested or passed as such through faeces by an animal. They stay in the gut causing pain and death. When dead animal decay, the bags are freed and often eaten again by other animals and this cycle may continue for many years to come.
The toxic contents of plastic may also enter in man through milk produced by such cows. The foreign bodies like hard metal needles, wires, nails, etc. are also disposed along with other house waste in polythene bags, which after consuming by cows may settle in reticulum giving rise to a condition “Tranmatic Reticulo Pericarditis (TRP)”. One can see many stray cows found on roadsides with TRP where in their foreleg portion is found swollen.
Various pathological conditions are encountered due to plastic and polythene in animals.
1. Indigestion: The polythenes and other plastic material do not degrade in rumen/reticulum and remain as such causing hindrance in orifice. When it is mixed with feed, the ingredients are also trapped in between polythenes which becomes tight due to ruminal movements. This whole process also affects the rumen microflora leading to indigestion of feed.
2. Impaction: Rumen becomes impacted due to presence of large quantities of polythene bags/plastics in rumen accumulated over a period of time. This leads to rumenatony and decrease in rumen motility.
3. Tympany: When polythenes present in rumen and reticulum, they partially or completely occlude the orifice of reticulum and omasum leading to accumulation of gases in rumen. The situation becomes worsen if such animal is fed with legumes or other gas forming feed/ concentrates. Accumulation of gases in rumen give rise to bloat or tympany which becomes fatal, if the gases are not properly removed. Sometimes the poly bags present in rumen may also occlude oesophageal orifice leading to hindrance in eructation. This gives rise to dyspnoea and death.
4. Polybezoars: There will be formation of stones in digestive tract and around polythenes will also be observed. Such hard mass not only causes hindrance in food passage but also leads to pain and inflammation of rumen.
5. Immunosuppression: It has been observed that cows with polythenes in their stomach also suffer from immunosuppression that leads to increased sensitivity to various infections particularly of haemorrhagic septicemia (Pasteurellosis).
Besides, due to lack of proper nutrition, animal becomes weak and immunodeficient. Such animals are also prone to development of cancer. The presence of toxic chemicals may also damage epithelial lining that leads to urolithiasis particularly in kidneys.
Plastic industry contributes nearly 1/10 of toxic releases in the environment. Significant releases of toxic chemicals included: Tri chloro ethane, Acetone, Methylene chloride, Methyl ethyl ketone, Styrene, Toluene,Benzene, 1,1,1,Trichloroethane. Other major emissions form plastics production process include sulphur oxides, Nitrous oxides, Methanol,Ethylene oxide and volatile organic compounds which are highly toxic to cattle (Khurshaid Anwar et al., 2013)
Rumen impaction is a condition which results from the accumulation of the indigestible materials in the rumen which interferes with the flow of ingesta leading to distension of the rumen and passing of scanty or no feces (Abdullahi et al., 1984). Clinical rumen IFB (indigestible foreign body) impaction is characterized by pale mucous membrane, complete cessation of rumination, impacted rumen, atony, reduced rumen motility, absence of stratification, hard pellet mucous coated dung and inappetance (Vanitha et al., 2010; Prahlad Boodur et al., 2008).
Rumenotomy along with transplantation of fresh ruminal qud is the best technique of restoration of normal ruminal function at the field level for treatment of chronic rumenal impaction due to plastics in cattle and buffaloes ( Prahlad Booder et al., 2008). In the present case, animal showed recurrent bloat since two months along with anorexia and cessation of rumination. Rumenotomy followed with transplantation of fresh ruminal qud, rumenotorics and probiotics helped in uneventful recovery (Bhupendra Singh,2005).
Hence, it is most important to save the holy cows from the deleterious effects of the plastics. In this regard, a big campaign is organized by Shri Ramachandrapuramath, Hosanagar in association with Indian Buitricians Association, Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services, Government of Karnataka, Karnataka Veterinary Animal and Fisheries Sciences University, Bidar and many other organizations. A campaign is organized in the name of “Mangala Gouyatra” which is for creating awareness among the people about the toxic effects of consumption of plastic by cows and thus to stop the use of plastics. The skilled veterinarians are to identify the plastic consumed cows and going to conduct rumenotomy operations in various parts of Karnataka and other surrounding States. Cow with plastic will be exhibited by Shri Shri Raghaveshwara Bharati Swamiji during his spiritual talk. This is a unique effort to make the cows free from plastic and to create awareness among the people not to use plastic materials.
