Wednesday, January 11, 2012

When holy animals become a nuisance


In one of the shocking cases of negligence in government hospitals in India, rats have nibbled an old patient suffering from paralysis. This time the story got highlighted in the media, while there might be many more cases like this which do not even get reports. This incident reminds me of another instance when a friend witnessed rats nibbling very young babies in an orphanage in Aligarh.

Rats are rampant in India and most Hindus avoid killing rats because it is considered a sin for rats are associated with the deity Ganesha. In some temples, like this one, rats are treated with great reverence. Mumbai municipality employs rat-catchers to eliminate rats. They have employed 44 rat-catchers in the entire city, and each of them has to kill 30 rats. Rodenticide being a difficult job, the municipality relies on rat-killers who can barely make feed their families through this strange profession. 

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