Puppy love

Jasmine Singh

Almost a week back Hollywood actor Johnny Depp put up a post on Facebook that read, “If you don’t like seeing pictures of violence against animals being posted, you need to help stop the violence and not the pictures.”

Just like Johnny Depp, there are people across the region and in the country at large who feel the same. These are people who don’t sit up late in the night, sharing posts in the digital world; they are the ones who are actually doing good deeds in the real world, something concrete for animals, especially the stray ones go are forced to live without any shelter or food.

Ordinary folks call it ‘charity’ but these kind souls call it a miniscule contribution to humanity, a helping hand for the voiceless who have the right to live but sometimes not the means.

Up in the mountain desert of Leh, where temperature drops to minus in winters, where greenery exists only in patches, one man, Ngawang Rinchen is spreading warmth by taking care of almost all stray animals of Leh. Rinchen is in charge of a shelter (two km from the Shanti Stupa) where he has housed all these stray animals right from dogs, goats, cows, donkeys, and sheep. Rinchen is part of the Live To Love Rescue project undertaken by His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa and His Eminence Thuksey Rinpoche. The project is an effort to provide shelter to all stray animals of the region.

Rinchen has named every single animal here. “Once they are brought here, or manage to find their way to the shelter, they become a part of this family,” he pats a dog that has come all the way from Zanskar!

These stray animals are treated at the clinic and the emergency clinic in Leh, operational 24x7. “Anyone can bring a stray animal here, it is then treated if sick, and if the owner is not traced, it is taken to the shelter.” At the shelter don’t be surprised to see music speakers wired at every cage, “We play soothing music for the animals here so that they can relax,” adds Rinchen with a smile. The stray animals here are even provided culinary treats that come from the Hotel Grand Dragon, a five-star property!

But, there is another side to this coin too. Recent figures show a 20 per cent increase in the number of stray animals. Also, the cases of cruelty against the stray animals have also risen in the past two to three years. In a country like Australia, the maximum penalty for animal cruelty offences is a five-year prison term and a fine of A$50,000 (US$36,000) for individuals and A$250,000 for corporations. In India, however, people would laugh on the idea of going to jail for hurting a stray animal! Nevertheless, you will still find many a soul, who have gone out of their comfort zone to feed or give shelter to stray animals.

Mukul Sarwal and Sachi Khurana, final-year microbiology students from Panjab University, Chandigarh, found a litter of six stray pups, near their department at the varsity. Mukul and Sachi were sceptical about taking these pups home, but at the same time; they didn’t want to leave them uncared for. “We got them vaccinated immediately; and we feed them regularly with milk and food. We buy the provisions from the pocket money that we saved,” shares the duo.

Now these kind souls are trying to find a home or some permanent shelter for these pups. Till this happens, Mukul and Sachi will not give up on looking after the pups that have grown-up pretty healthy under the care and love of these two. The pups make a run for their carers when they spot them on the campus. Mukul and Sachi usually visit them in the evening too to check on them. “They are the most adorable creatures we’ve ever come across. Now, we simply want a nice home for all of them,” say Mukul and Sachi.   

Today, many animal right activists and non-government organisations (NGOs) are trying their best to make people aware of cruelty towards animals, especially stray animals, but the task seems to be a Herculean one. The increase in the number of stray dogs has just made the situation worst. “It becomes all the more important that all citizens should do something about this problem, like taking care of these stray animals, dogs, cats, cows,” shares Amarjeet Singh Batth from Ludhiana, who has been taking care of stray dogs of his area. 

One day Amarjeet saw a small puppy struggling to make its way through the dense traffic on the GT Road. “It would have got crushed had I left it there. So, I brought him home,” he shares. From that day onwards, Amarjeet Batth has been diligently and single-handedly looking after the stray dogs of his area that are living in distressing conditions. “These dogs have been either abandoned by their owners due to some reason or the other; some have been left lame due to an accident.” 

Amarjeet Batth has made small compartments for these stray dogs inside his sprawling bungalow located on the outskirts of Ludhiana. These stray dogs are regularly vaccinated and sterilised if need be.  

While in this case Amarjeet Batth has individually taken up this humanitarian task, in Ahmedabad there is an entire village involved in the humanitarian task of looking after stray animals. 

The entire village of Sardarpura in Patan district of Ahmedabad annually collects funds to feed stray animals and birds. This is a part of their century-old tradition, which is being followed till date. As per this tradition, January 14 is marked as Uttarayan, a day to give animals a right to health. Bharat Desai, a resident of the village, says, “This custom has been passed down to us from our forefathers. Each year a designated budget is created for the stray animals and birds. So much so, there is a separate budget for birds, like pigeons and peacocks,” he adds.

 On the eve of Uttaryan, a grand feast is thrown for the animals in the village. They are served ladoos, sukhdi and many other things. This village has almost 700 stray animals, including dogs, cows, donkeys and bullocks. “A sum of Rs 60,000 is kept exclusively for the dogs as they suffer the most,” adds Bharat.

If this sounds strange yet inspiring to you, then wait till you meet this government employee from Delhi, Hemant Kumar Uppal, a professional graphic artist, who can bring an entire traffic to a halt to rescue an injured bird or an animal. Hemant has rescued many pigeons, owls, kites, sparrows, and crows and nursed them back to good health. Hemant smiles sharing how he was once criticised for posting a picture of a baby kite that he was nursing. “I called the Wildlife people, and they took it away. After a few days, I found another baby kite in a bad condition, and got it home. Karma, what else,” Hemant believes in this too. 

A good deed only needs right intent, whether it is towards  mankind or animals, and these people have proved it well by offering the most important ingredient of nurturing... love!