You are walking down a street in an Indian city. People brush by you on every side. It’s no wonder! Millions of people live in large Indian cities—and tens of thousands of cows do too. Look! A horned bovine is digging through the trash right now!

While traveling in India, you can count on running into all kinds of animal roadblocks besides cows—dogs, peacocks, and wild monkeys, to name a few. But to many Indians, cows are not just animals. They are sacred.

Why? There may be more than one reason. Hindus believe in a god named Krishna. (They believe in lots of other gods too—hundreds of thousands or even millions of them!) Hindus say Krishna appeared thousands of years ago as a cowherd. Hindu scriptures also call the cow the mother of civilization because its milk feeds people.

In India, some believe giving a cow a snack will bring good luck. But the cows actually cause lots of trouble. They grow crabby after living in cities. They rip apart trash looking for tasty snacks. Herding them away to the countryside is tricky—especially since herders must be gentle with the sharp-horned cows. If they hurt the cows, they will be punished. But even if they get the cows out of the cities, many of the animals wander back.

Most cows in India end up roving freely (and causing plenty of traffic accidents while they’re at it!). Water buffalo don’t get that kind of respect. Some Hindus eat no meat at all. But those who do eat meat enjoy the buffalo’s tender, cow-like flesh instead of beef. Sorry, buffalo. Too bad for you!