In the heat of the midday sun the feared municipal cow-catchers are out on patrol. In a battle of sweat and tears five men hustle one belligerent cow out of town… and watch a few more trot back to freedom. This is Minster Maneke Gandhi's solution to the problem of 13 million people sharing their streets with cattle. "We can never be a Western country - every city is replete with animal life and we won't kill them so we have to make provisions." Her answer is the gowshala: a sort of retirement village where sacred cows may safely graze. But her team of cow catchers face a foe. Though cows may roam freely through the urban jungle they are all actually owned, and milked, by somebody. Now in a scam emblematic of Indian bureaucratic corruption cow owners are bribing gowshala owners to return their cattle. It ends in a classic case of good intentions gone wrong. The cow owners go broke, the cow catchers perform a useless task and a stream of rupees lands in the bureaucrats pockets. "It's a malicious [bureaucracy]," argues Maneke. In this charming report we join the frontline of animal lovers clearing up Delhi's streets.

Produced by ABC Australia