OUR COW ADOPTION PROGRAM – why & how?
We found it very important to inform our well-wishers and supporters about the need of this program and what we wish to achieve by this in the long run. Since many people approach us wanting to donate a cow(go-daan) knowing it to be a highly pious activity one needs to do in one’s life, 
we felt that it’s required to inform all about the matter in this document:
Treatment given to the cows:◊ All over we see cows wandering throughout the day eating whatever garbage they get. Many times we find them near the garbage pit of Municipality searching out in the refuse. Natural question that will arise in the mind of any sane person is ‘who is the owner of these cows?’, ‘why doesn’t he protect his cow from eating filth and plastic?’
It is terrible that people even in Vrindavan use cow as a commodity. They simply exploit the cow for it’s milk but do not feed her plentiful. After milking is done cow is left on her own to search out for food and when she has stopped giving milk she is completely dragged out from home. They argue that they haven’t sold her for money but the inevitable fate of such street cows is the abattoir or that they die miserably of some disease caused by eating filth and plastic. ISN’T THIS CRUEL!!, should the owners not be honest toward taking the responsibility of their mother?
A real life story
After a five-hour surgery, veterinary doctors removed 30 kgs of plastic from a cow’s stomach on Wednesday.A week ago, animal lovers from IIT Powai called the Bombay Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to tell them about a cow who was unable to walk due to a wound on her tail. A team of doctors visited the area and saw that the problem was much worse. They suggested she be brought to Bai Sakarbai Dinshaw Petit 
Hospital in Parel for observation.
They found that her stomach was bloated and the food she ate would come out of her nose. She also had a deep wound in her pelvic region and showed loss of appetite. These were all indications that she had eaten too much plastic.
“First we cured the tail wound,” says Dr Ashish Sutar, manager of hospital, “then we planned the surgery with the help of Bombay Veterinary college.” The doctors were surprised to see the quantity of plastic that came out of the cow’s stomach during a rumenotomy. During the first hour, they could remove only shreds of plastic.
It took four more hours to remove all of it. “Out of curiosity,” says one doctor, “we measured the plastic and it weighed 30 kgs. This is the first time so much has been found in a cow’s stomach.”
“Most cow-owners leave their animals out to graze after milking them,” explains Dr J C Khanna, chief functionary of the hospital, “These cows eat out of garbage bins — as they are rarely fed by their owners — where food stuff is often wrapped in plastic.”
“It’s sad that owners look after their animals only as long as they are capable of giving milk,” says Khanna, “Then they are abandoned.” Sutar says,“The cow is now out of danger and in post-operative care.”
What we wish to do: Seeing this condition we at ISKCON goshala have designed this program of cow adoption with a desire to set-up an ideal standard of cow care in the long run. By letting people donate a cow(go-daan) to us we’ll also be a culprit of the same cruelty that we are protesting against. First of all we need to be honest in taking up the responsibility of those who are born in our goshala-they are our own children. The above treatment met to the cows is due to the dirth of enough grazing land. All land is speedily getting used-up by construction companies or factories.By your kind help it will be possible for us to purchase more land for the cows to graze on and to make sheds. Thus setup an example for the whole community. Thanking you for your kind consideration.
For cow adoption click here
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Bhaktivedanta Swami Goshala, International Society
for Krishna ConsciousnessRaman Reti, Vrindavan 281121, Mathura District, U.P. India