A bunch of buffaloes got shitfaced… and got their owners arrested in the Indian state of Gujarat. Gujarat is a dry state, where the brewing, sale, consumption and transportation of alcohol is a prohibited offence that can invite hefty fines and even a ten-year jail term. While that hasn’t stopped many young residents from raging despite the risks, some buffaloes probably wanted in on the fun too.
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Just like their owners. Three Gujarat-based brothers, who are farmers, hid hooch or moonshine – an illicit, undistilled liquor – in their buffaloes’ water container. According to the police, they made more than 100 bottles of moonshine, whiskey and vodka, worth around Rs 32,000 ($428). But last week, the farmers noticed their buffaloes jumping around uncontrollably. They started to “act strangely and their mouths started frothing,” police official Dilipsinh Baldev told AFP. The brothers called over a vet to look into this strange behaviour. The vet then inspected their water trough and “observed a strange smell and found the water to be coloured.” According to the police, the farmers must’ve then realised what had actually happened, and tried to cover up the weirdly coloured water by saying it was a result of fallen branches. But by then, the vet had realised that the water was actually laced with the moonshine, as a result of the submerged bottles accidentally breaking and their contents mixing with the water.The brothers were then arrested, and further investigation into the case is ongoing.
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The consumption of illicit hooch has resulted in thousands of tragic deaths or side-effects like alcohol poisoning and loss of vision across India. Just in June this year, more than 50 people were reported to have died from consuming the spurious alcohol in the Indian city of Aligarh, though officials estimate the number may actually be a lot higher.As a result of its ban on alcohol, Gujarat has seen several hooch tragedies as the toxic methanol that’s often added to it claims hundreds of lives every year. But in case you were wondering, the cops said the bovines are now doing just fine. Follow Shamani on Instagram and Twitter.