One held for feeding firecracker-laced ball to cow

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Police on Saturday arrested a person for causing injuries to a cow by feeding her a wheat flour ball laced with firecrackers.

It caused grievous injuries to cow in mouth. The incident was reported in Bilaspur town on May 26.

The cruelty to the cow came into focus when a similar incident was reported in Kerala this week where a pregnant wild elephant chomped on a pineapple filled with powerful crackers offered by a man. It exploded in her mouth and she died later.

After the killing of elephant, images of the blown-off face of the cow went viral and people were demanding action against the accused.

Superintendent of Police Divakar Sharma said the firecracker exploded when the cow chewed the wheat flour ball.

Wildlife officials said it was a common practice of farmers to keep firecrackers in wheat flour balls to kill wild animals, mainly the blue bulls and wild boars, to protect their crops.