Shambo goes to slaughter

By Avril Ormsby

LONDON (Reuters) -The battle to save Shambo the sacred bullock ended on Thursday after police overcame chanting protestors protecting the Frisian at a Hindu monastic community in Wales.

Dozens of praying campaigners had built a shrine for Shambo at the monastery and vowed to save him.

But after a 12-hour stand-off with Welsh Assembly officials, the six-year-old bullock, which has tested positive for bovine tuberculosis, was finally led away to slaughter after police intervened.

"At least everybody that has campaigned for Shambo's survival can go to bed with a clear conscience, having tried everything they could," said a spokesman for the Skanda Vale temple near Carmarthen.

The standoff at the Community of the Many Names of God had followed months of legal wrangling over the fate of Shambo.

An Appeal Court ruled this month that the bullock must die in accordance with government policy of slaughtering TB-positive cattle.

An Indian charity had agreed to take Shambo out of the country and more than 23,500 people signed a protest petition.

Cows are sacred to Hindus and the monastery spokesman said it would be "an appalling desecration of life" if the bullock were killed.