Note: The following Reuters newspaper story has been stuck on my ‘fridge door for about three years, maybe more. I have never read anything that says it better.

Shocked Indian villagers watch as cow devours dozens of live chickens

When dozens of chickens went missing from a remote Indian village, everyone blamed the neighbourhood dogs. But Ajit Ghosh, owner of the missing birds, finally solved the puzzle when he caught his cow — a sacred animal for the Hindu family — gobbling them up at night. “We were shocked to see our calf eating chickens alive,” he said in Chandpur, about 240 kilometres northwest of Calcutta.

“We think lack of vital minerals in the body is causing this behaviour,” said Mihir Satpathy, a local district veterinary officer.

“The local vet said the cow was probably suffering from a disease, but others said Lal was a tiger in his previous life, ” Mr. Ghosh said.