Time runs out for Hindu temple's sacred bull

A sacred bull seized from a Hindu monastery in Wales because he tested positive for tuberculosis has been slaughtered. The plight of Shambo the bull had attracted international attention since his diagnosis this spring and prompted an Internet campaign by the Skanda Vale monastery to save him. Hindus revere cattle and said killing the bull would violate their religious rights. More than 100 devout Hindus and their supporters prayed and chanted outside the bull's paddock throughout Thursday, but animal health officials and police led Shambo from the monastery to a trailer about 7:30 p.m. A Webcam site, dubbed Moo Tube, which the monastery set up to show the flower-garlanded bull in his paddock, broadcast images of an empty, hay-lined shrine. Swami Suryananda, one of Shambo's caretakers, said officials had “committed the most violent and ignorant act of desecration of our temple and destroyed an innocent life. “The perpetrators of this act will suffer the consequences of their actions for generations to come."