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Posted
on 26-Jan-04 10:53 AM
Offbeat - AFP
Diamonds are one cow's meal ticket to stardom in India
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AHMEDABAD, India (AFP) - A diamond trader in India's western state of Gujarat has been feeding up a cow for the last 17 days -- not to get more milk but to retrieve the 1,722 diamonds the animal swallowed by mistake.
Sifting daily through the cow's dung, Mohabbatsinh Gohil said that so far he had recovered only 555 of his precious stones.
"At the rate at which the cow is discharging my diamonds, it should take another 30 days to get them all back," said an exasperated Gohil in the town of Limdi, Surendranagar district.
Gohils packet of diamonds, worth about 45,000 rupees (about 1,000 dollars) was munched up by the cow after he accidently dropped it in the street.
The trader has vowed to keep up his daily task of searching through the cow's dung until he has recovered all his gems, but a veterinarian advising him says he is being too optimistic.
"Even though Gohil has succeeded in making the cow shit out some of his diamonds, he will not be able to get all of them back," said the vet, A.S. Manvar.
"The cow is a ruminant animal which has its stomach divided in four compartments. It is impossible to recover all the diamonds," he said.
Meanwhile, the cow has become a centre of attraction for people in Limdi, who flock around it every day waiting for it to drop its offerings to the waiting Gohil.
For every diamond he finds, the crowd breaks into a cheer.
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