A herd of goats jailed for a year after feasting on the foliage in a graveyard have been freed.
The move to release the goats came after a new mayor took up office and decided to grant pardon to the criminal goats arrested after they were caught grazing in a local graveyard in Barishal, in Bangladesh.
In total nine goats were incarcerated for almost a year by Barishal City Corporation, which is the local council that governs the region, after they were caught in the graveyard.
But they were released back to their owner on Friday, 24th November, almost a year after they were detained on 6th December, 2022, for allegedly consuming grass and leaves from trees in the burial ground.
The release came following an appeal from Shahriar Sachib Rajib, the owner of the goats, to Abul Khair Abdullah, the newly elected mayor of Barishal City Corporation (BCC).
The mayor issued directives to free the animals from their year-long captivity and they were handed over to the grateful owner.
The then BCC administrative official, Swapon Kumar Das, confirmed the initial detention of the goats, confirming the reason for the animals’ arrest.
The handover ceremony took place in the presence of current BCC administrative officials Alamgir Hossain, along with Road Inspectors Reazul Karim and Imran Hossain Khan.
The unusual case of imprisoning goats for grazing raises questions about the severity of the punishment imposed on the animals. While the exact reasons for their detainment remain unclear, the owner’s plea for release prompted the intervention of the city’s new leadership.
This incident is not the first of its kind globally, as animals have occasionally found themselves on the wrong side of the law.
In a similar case in November 2017, a herd of eight donkeys faced arrest in Uttar Pradesh’s Jalaun district for allegedly eating and destroying plants worth Rs 5 lakh outside the Urai jail. The donkeys were eventually released after spending four days in detention.
To find out more about the author, editor or agency that supplied this story – please click below. Story By: Aloysius Fernandes, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency: Newsflash
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