Buffalo, NY - A groundbreaking study by Canisius University Assistant Professor Chirantana Mathkari, PhD, has uncovered what she calls "the cow paradox" - a complex situation where the religious protection of cows in India may inadvertently contribute to their welfare challenges. India leads the world in both milk production and consumption, housing nearly one-third of the global cattle population with 307 million bovines. Mathkari’s research, titled "The Cow Paradox - A Scoping Review of Dairy Bovine Welfare in India Using the Five Freedoms," examines how cultural, religious, and economic factors intersect to affect these animals' well-being, and was recently published in Animals, an international peer-reviewed, open-access journal devoted entirely to animals.
"What makes this situation unique is the widespread ban on cow slaughter that exists in most Indian states," explains Mathkari, a professor of anthrozoology. "This ban, while rooted in a religious reverence for cows, creates unexpected economic consequences for farmers."
Mathkari’s study utilized the internationally recognized "Five Freedoms" framework to assess the animals’ welfare at different life stages. The results revealed that dairy cattle experience compromised welfare throughout their productive lives, with conditions deteriorating significantly once the animals are no longer able to produce milk.
"I found a clear pattern where one or more welfare freedoms are compromised across the various stages of a cow's productive life," Mathkari notes. "But when the animal can no longer produce milk, multiple welfare freedoms are lost simultaneously."
This creates what researchers call the "cow paradox." While cows are culturally revered and legally protected from slaughter, the economic burden of maintaining unproductive animals often leads small-scale farmers to abandon them or provide minimal care.
The research highlights how small-scale dairy operations, which rear the majority of India's dairy cattle, face particular challenges. The inability to slaughter unproductive animals due to legal and cultural restrictions upsets the farm’s economics, limiting the resources these farmers have to properly maintain aging cattle as well as the productive ones.
Mathkari suggests that improving this situation requires an interdisciplinary approach that considers both animal welfare and human livelihoods. Her study calls for future research to examine the financial and psychological effects of dairy farming on small-scale farmers, reevaluate cow protection policies, and assess consumer awareness about dairy cattle welfare.
"Our goal is to develop culturally appropriate solutions that improve cattle welfare while promoting sustainable coexistence between humans and animals," Mathkari concludes. "This means acknowledging both the cultural significance of cows in India and the practical realities faced by those who rear them."
Canisius was founded in 1870 in Buffalo, NY, and is one of 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. Consistently ranked among the top institutions in the Northeast, Canisius offers undergraduate, graduate and pre-professional programs distinguished by close student-faculty collaboration, mentoring and an emphasis on ethical, purpose-driven leadership.
