Bhubaneswar: The Animal Welfare Board of India has appealed to people to adopt a wellness trend by celebrating ‘Cow Hug Day’ on February 14, which it claims would bring “emotional richness” and increase “individual and collective happiness.”
“All cow lovers may celebrate February 14 as Cow Hug Day keeping in mind the importance of mother cow and making life happy and full of positive energy,” the notice issued by the board under the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying on February 6, said.
Interestingly, the date picked for spreading positive energy and encouraging collective happiness through human-to-animal snuggling coincides with Valentine’s Day. “Vedic traditions are almost on the verge of extinction due to the progress of western culture and that the dazzle of western civilization has made our physical culture and heritage almost forgotten,” these lines clearly indicate the idea behind celebrating the day on February 14.
This practice, according to BBC, can be traced back to the Netherlands where cow cuddlers start the day by taking a tour of the farm before resting against one of the cows for two to three hours. A California-based nonprofit, the Gentle Barn, is offering cow hug therapy to help people, who are feeling down or anxious. Resting against one of the cows, giving them a back rub or even getting licked is part of the therapeutic practice, which is believed to promote positivity and reduce stress by boosting oxytocin in humans, the hormone released in social bonding. And the calming effects of curling up with a pet, it seems, are accentuated when cuddling with larger mammals, the BBC report further added.
In 2021, an NGO in Gurugram also opened a cow cuddling centre to promote positivity and reduces stress through the cow’s warmer body temperature and slower heartbeat. “Cow cuddling not only cures respiratory diseases, blood pressure, spinal pain, heart problem, depression but also sadness, anxiety and all kinds of tensions,” the statement issued by the centre read.
“Heart-rate of the mother-cow is very low, therefore, one gets peacefulness in her vicinity,” it further said, adding that the method is called ‘Cow-Munication’ or ‘communication with cow mother’.
Though among the newest trend, a 2011 study showed that animal-assisted therapy — specifically cows — was beneficial in reducing depression in people with psychiatric disorders.
Another study, which appeared in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science in 2017, states that cows show cues of deep relaxation, stretching out and allowing their ears to fall back when massaged in particular areas of their neck and upper back.
