The Palakkad police has registered a case under the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act (1960) after they found more than 30 buffaloes tied up in a small area on a private property in Koppam, Palakkad. The buffaloes were reportedly abandoned for four days, and were kept outdoors without any food, water or shelter. When the police visited the spot on Friday, May 28, two buffaloes were reportedly already dead, and the remaining were found with their ribs visible. The police have registered a suo motu case in the matter, but the person responsible has not yet been taken in.  According to the police, the buffaloes were tied up on the land, which is owned by a person from Kozhikode, on Monday, May 24.  Only later did the local residents notice that the buffaloes were not being attended to, and that they were not being given food or water.

The local residents told police that the cattle was dropped off here by a man from Kollam district. The cattle has now been shifted to a private farm in Dhoni. A postmortem will be conducted on the dead buffaloes by the district Department of Animal Husbandry, to confirm whether they died of starvation. When the buffaloes were found tied up, their ribs were reportedly visible. Currently, no one has come forward and claimed responsibility for the buffaloes. If they remain unclaimed, they will be sold through bidding by the Department of Animal Husbandry, after seven days of observation. The police are looking into whether these buffaloes were transported illegally. However, the local residents suspect the person who tied up the buffaloes had a dispute with the owner of the land, and that he left the buffaloes in the outdoors without food or water in retaliation. However, this has not been confirmed by the police.