It is a bull otherwise destined for the abattoir, especially because it is afflicted with bovine TB. For a country slowly recovering from the mad cow disease that took a heavy toll of the country's economy and prestige, sending the six-year-old Freisian bull to the slaughterhouse is but a logical step.

But the "devout" Hindus of Carmarthenshire, a tiny hamlet in Wales in Great Britain, are not impressed by the reasoning of the Wales health authorities. The bull is sacred for us. It is the vehicle of Lord Shiva. Don't touch it, they say.

At the moment the government is not giving in. But one has to wait and see how the drama is played out.

A routine bovine TB test of Shambo, the bull lazing around in Skanda Vale Temple, situated at Llanpumsaint, in Carmarthenshire proved positive and so the government issued notice to the temple authorities saying the animal would have to be "put down."

The temple has come up on a 115-acre site, which is also known as the Many Names of God temple, has three Hindu shrines which attract upwards of 90,000 pilgrims every year.

The Hindu Forum of Britain is outraged and is threatening "serious international repurcusssions."

Shambo's keepers have claimed he is not proven to be a carrier of TB and said that even if it did develop "he can be expected to make a full recovery given appropriate care".