Like other species, cattle are ecologically beneficial only when their numbers are in balance with the rest of the ecosystem. With 2.4 % of the world’s land area and 16 % of the world’s human population, India has 20 % of the world’s livestock population! (Animal Citizen Jan – March 2004, page 23) In search of fodder humans and cattle have encroached into forests and destroyed most of them. Today our national parks face a human-wildlife conflict. Barely 4.6 % of our land remains protected forest. If the system is to regenerate and support wildlife before desertification takes place, livestock numbers must come down drastically. The increase in cattle population is totally unnatural and is due to artificial insemination.