Angelica, USA - The western New York couple who said their religious beliefs supported keeping cows at their home had their appeal turned down Friday.
The Appellate Division of State Supreme Court said Stephen and Linda Voith, members of a Hindu sect that considers cows sacred, could not continue to keep the cows, which sometimes grazed on their Main Street front lawn, at that property.
The couple will have to move the animals, which they called "more family members than anything," to land outside the village.
The court upheld the village's right to ban cattle on plots of land smaller than 10 acres and said the couple's claims that religious freedom exempted them were not valid. The couple's home is on a 2-acre plot.
The Hindu American Foundation and World Hindu Council supported the couple in their case.
Angelica is about 60 miles southeast of Buffalo.