CHENNAI: A team of researchers from the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University has successfully produced an improved vaccine for combating anthrax attack on cattle.

Vice-Chancellor P. Thangaraju said the improved vaccine, based on montanide, would be animal-friendly. The glycerine-based vaccine used on cattle earlier, at times resulted in side effects. It would also cost less than the glycerine-based vaccine.

The state government would establish 500 animal husbandry development centres in nine districts. These centres would be opened under a five-year project costing Rs 51 crore 95 lakh in Ratlam, Badwani, Dhar, Raisen, Sidhi, Satna, Panna, Ashok Nagar and Guna districts. The project would be conducted jointly by Veterinary Services and JK Trust. The state cabinet has okayed the decision to establish these centres on May 14 this year.

While the population of cattle is going down in the state, the milk production has gone up. According to the latest census, there has been a decrease of 16.56 per cent and 13.62 per cent in the buffalo and cow population, respectively, in the state. On the other hand, the milk production has increased by 18 per cent. At present, 85 per cent of the cow population is cross-bred and has the highest average milk production per day as compared to other states.

Municipal Corporation of Delhi is facing another cattle-related problem. The staff which have been rounding up cows belonging to religious institutions along the Yamuna belt, are facing the ire of priests who want their cattle back. While the civic agency

To increase genetic diversity of cattle Regulatory authority planned THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State cattle breeding policy, announced by Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan here on Monday, proposes more attention to improvement of the genetic stock of cattle in Kasaragod, Kannur, Wayanad, Malappuram, Idukki and Palakkad districts. This is in view of the backwardness of these districts in artificial insemination and other breeding activities.

Despite tall claims by the MCD to contain the menace of stray cattle in the city, a stray cattle went wild and gored a 55-year-old man to death, and injured two people who tried to save victim's life in Prashant Vihar, northwest Delhi, on Tuesday evening. The victim, identified as Gurnaam Singh, was a resident of Sardar Colony Sector16 Rohini. According to the police, a cow in the local area had been acting wild for past few days as it could not see its calf.

A Tata Tea-owned garden faces legal action by Kaziranga National Park authorities after the Forensic Science Laboratory here confirmed the presence of pesticide in the carcass of a cattle "used as a bait' to kill a tiger at Hatikhuli tea estate in January. The director of the forensic laboratory, R.P. Gohain, today confirmed that pesticide residues were found on the cattle carcass that resulted in the death of a tiger cub in the Rongagora division of the tea estate, owned by the Tata Tea's North India Plantation Operations.

Remarks Come In The Wake Of US Prez Blaming India For Global Food Crisis One way to beat the worldwide grain shortage is for meateaters to turn vegetarian, and the movement should start with US president George Bush, the Indian affiliate of animal rights organization Peta has said. Jumping headlong into the controversy that began with Bush's misconstrued remarks about India's role in the rise of food prices worldwide, Peta India has written a letter to the US president, urging him to become a vegetarian and asking other compassionate Americans to follow his example.

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) might be trying to round up stray cattle as quickly as possible, but the problem of inadequate "police staff' during the operations remains. On Tuesday, yet another MCD inspector was roughed up by irate illegal dairy owners in Saraswati Vihar, making it the third incident where MCD officials had to face the wrath of the public. The civic agency has to submit a status report on controlling the cattle menace before the Delhi High Court by August.

Animals used by the leather industry in India are transported to states where they can legally be killed. Forced to walk through the heat and dust for days without food or water, many of the animals collapse. Handlers pull the cattle by ropes through their noses and twist their necks, horns and tails or rub chilli peppers in their eyes in order to keep them moving.