Delhi to RFID chip cows

Fighting wandering sacred bovine fraud

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 11th August 2005 12:03 GMT

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The Delhi authorities will RFID chip stray cows in an attempt to tackle the menace of stray cow fraud, the BBC reports.

The streets of the Indian capital are absolutely chokka with wandering sacred bovines - up to 40,000 of the blighters - and they pose such a risk to traffic that the Delhi High Court recently ruled that the powers that be had to offer a $45 reward for every stray brought in for later disposal to a new owner.

Naturally, there's a temptation for the new owner to then bring the cow back in and claim another quick $45, but the $11 chip put in the animal's stomach on the occasion of its first capture will nip this scam in the bud.

To demonstrate just how big the ownerless cow problem is, the BBC concludes by citing the recent case of a woman who "broke her arm after a cow being chased by residents slammed into her". Whether the poor animal was being hunted for the bounty on its head is not noted. ®

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