The Welsh Assembly has ordered the slaughter of two more cows at the Skanda Vale multi-faith community in Carmarthenshire, where the Fresian cross bullock Shambo had recently tested positive for bovine TB.
Sixteen-year-old Shambo was killed by lethal injection, but protests from Hindus and animal rights activists meant that police were needed to help with the removal of the animal, and that only came after a failed High Court action by the community to stop the slaughter.
Now, a lethal injection has been given to a 15-year-old bullock which also tested positive for bovine TB, and a young water buffalo is due to be killed soon.
Elin Jones, Assembly rural affairs minister, was accused by the farming community of not acting quickly, and was urged to treat the religious community like any other farm. Last night, she announced that formal slaughter notices were going to be issued.
?I deeply regret the distress that this process causes for the Hindu community and others,? she said, ?but as an assembly government we have a duty to protect human and animal health.?
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