This 22-year-old bullock with the red horns is named Sonya. This is the third “Sonya” we’ve welcomed to our Home for Retired Bullocks over the years. He was spotted by one of our scouts pulling a cart loaded with 2 tons of iron rods. Animal Rahat had warned his owner twice in the past that Sonya was too old and frail to work, so this time our scout said, “Either you surrender Sonya to us, or we’ll file a police report.” And now he’s with us forever!

Sonya is finally getting medical care for his aching limbs and enjoying nutritious food, and at last he is free of the nose rope that had been making every turn of his head since he was a calf painful.

We also persuaded another owner to retire his elderly bullock and to keep the animal at his hut in the village of Hipale. This owner was at first extremely reluctant to remove the bullock’s nose rope for fear that he would no longer be able to control the animal. So Animal Rahat staffers explained that grooming would be a wonderful way to increase his bullock’s trust in him, which would make handling easier, and they gave him a lesson in grooming (shown below). It worked! The retired bullock now enjoys regular grooming sessions and is finally free of his painful nose rope.