Riki Passed away in Nov 2014 and I didn’t bring any four legged baby home until May 2018. My mom was travelling internationally for little less than a month. Zenith Odysseys was running pretty much smoothly hence perhaps it was the right time.
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| Toby's First day with me |
On one hot May afternoon, I dropped mom for her journey and was checking whatsapp, when I read a message in that group where one cat lady wanted someone to accompany her to the shelter. I called her and asked if I could join. She was more than happy to take me with her to the shelter. At the meeting point, a shop close to Sinhgad Road. There I met a 4 month old pup whom shelter people had just dropped off. This pup was rescued by the group in early May. The pup had lost its left eye and was bleeding when he was rescued. He also had a wound on back which was healing. The group leader said he was going to look after the pup. I somehow felt attached to the pup. But cat lady was in hurry to reach shelter and return. All of that journey and later throughout day and Night I was thinking about the pup. Two days, I decided to bring the Pup home. The pup is now a gentle giant known as Toby the Mountain Pirate.
Along with Toby’s adoption, I also got affiliated with the group more actively. They used to run Animal Birth Control (ABC) Drives, I expressed my wish to volunteer. Then there was a meeting which I attended. I realised that the group mainly runs on donations and active volunteers. They were also in the process of registering the group as an NGO. After this meeting, I actively participated in ABC Drives. We would catch the dogs and take them to CCC at Bhugaon.
Since I know how to drive, I would also drive the ambulance that these people had. The dogs would poop and pee in the cab, sometimes get aggressive and tried to escape. It used to be a headache to drive with those foul smells lingering all over the place. Sometimes, we used nets which would also be dirty. I realised that some of the group members didn’t bother to clean the car and some like me wanted it to be clean. Sometimes, to escape the cleaning the car, they would put corrugated boxes or newspapers on the floor. But either of it would become soggy with pee and it used to be additional headache to clean the car. I tried getting it washed from the professional guys but they denied. There was another member of the group, who got a hose and a pressure water gun to clean the car. We did that only once though.
Whenever, we would go for catching the dogs, people used to behave like they have never seen a dog. They would huddle around the car just looking at the dogs. Some extra smart people would even try to open the window and we had to be on our toes to not let the dogs bite of escape.
One evening, there was a message on the group that one dog has fallen in the ditch and is not able to get up. The place was much closer to my home, so I rushed. When I saw the dog, I realised that it wasn’t one person’s task and entire team was needed. The dog’s hind leg was broken and the bones had pierced outside. The dog was filled with ticks and fleas. The college students who had spotted the dog were willing to assist, but untrained team was of no use. So a fellow from the group who was returning from work joined the task before going home. We somehow managed to muzzle the dog, pick up and put the dog in the van. I drove the van to a shelter near Swarget. Those kids contributed some money from their pocket money for the fuel and the treatment of the dog.
This shelter is run by a high class lady who was a page 3 celebrity in her youth. Very beautiful soul and extremely elegant. She’s one of the most inspiring ladies I have ever met my life. She took the dog in, named him Smokey and treated him well. The hind leg was amputated and the dog remained in the shelter for rest of his life.
After this I started volunteering at this shelter as well. She has more than two hundred dogs in the entire apartment. The dogs ranged from expensive and exotic breeds like Shiba Inu, Saint Bernard and what not to indie mongrels.
We would clean and wash the rooms and the cages, we would feed the dogs in the shelter and in the surrounding area, walk the dogs and all.
During our talks I came learnt that the dogs of exotic breeds would be purchased as status symbols or just because they looked cute as pups. The owners with no experience would bring the dogs home, feed them any non sense food, keep them in idiotic conditions. And when the dog would act up it would only be his fault. A siberian husky was at the shelter, who was fed dal rice because the owners were strictly vegetarian. Another labra-doodle was brought in completely hairless, his owner who had come to surrender said he said the dog sheds a lot so I got him sheared.
One such evening, our group rescued a female Pitbull from the Highway. When I saw the bitch my first expression what devil is this. Her breasts were larger than those of any human’s. With this case I came across deeper shit of breeding industry.
The bitches are caged, given shots of hormones for milk so that puppies could be nursed frequently. There is no break between the pregnancies, the bitches would be made pregnant every time they would get in to heat. And then the puppies are sold as best of the lot! The conditions in which these bitches were kept chained would be filthy, unclean unhygienic. The pups would be cleaned whenever a prospective buyer would be visiting else the pups too lived in the those filthy pens.
There was another female of Labrador, she had developed a tumour near her private area. The tumour is known as Canine transmissible venereal tumours (TVT). Unfortunately the tumour is transmissible thus the dog should be kept separate from other dogs, the owner didn’t have place for a furball who wouldn’t be his money making machine any more, hence the dog was surrendered.
The saint Bernard was found by himself on the streets. It was obvious that he wasn’t trained at all. He wasn’t even taken on proper walks in his life.