Care for the abandoned ones

courtesy : Jayashree Nandi, TNN 24 October 2009, 01:38am IST

BANGALORE: A wet little shivering kitten in the rain or an abandoned sick dog __ injured, abandoned animals in our neighbourhoods is a common
sight. But not many have the compassion to care for them or get them hospitalized. Many have been abandoned by their owners when they become old, disabled or sick.

Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), for instance, takes care of such animals. They find a number of animals tied to trees or just left abandoned near their clinics or near their shelter. These are mostly pets with chronic diseases like arthritis or failed kidneys. "The animals that we find abandoned are home animals. They have been domesticated at some point but left alone by the owners. They are either, lost, injured or just left to die. We get them to our shelter and either put them to sleep if they are too much in pain or we help them sustain themselves," says Suparna Ganguly of CUPA.

Natasaha Chandy, an ardent animal lover, says: "If an animal seems healthy and is independently moving around the streets, it's best not to pet it and get it home. Dogs become dependent very quickly. If you observe them properly, they have a distinct sense of territory, friends and family. Also, if you see an injured animal, it's best to take it to a vet because we might make matters worse when we try to treat it."

Love at first sight

Many animal lovers rescue injured animals. It is a childhood memory for almost everyone to get home an injured dog or kitten.

"I was just out of college when a squirrel had three babies on an electric box in our house. The mother got electrocuted and died. My dad and I rescued the three babies and named them Squeaky, Peeky and Cheeky. They grew up with us and my dog used to be very jealous that I was giving the babies so much attention. Soon they grew up and wanted to be independent. I released them in the garden." --- Natasha Chandy, who has rescued a number of animals.

"One of the most dramatic rescues which I helped coordinate was that of a dog stuck in tar, in the middle of the night. Another rescue was of an injured horse that had fallen into a drain.'' __ Suparna Ganguly of CUPA

WHEN YOU SEE AN INJURED ANIMAL

Call the ambulance, but since CUPA has only one vehicle in two 8-hour shifts, the request may not be attended to immediately.

* 080-22947300/ 22947301

HC stays PDO selection process

Courtesy : TNN 1 October 2009, 04:02am IST

BANGALORE: The high court on Wednesday stayed for two weeks proceedings relating to selection process of panchayath development officers (PDOs).

Vacation judge Justice Jawad Rahim passed the interim order on a petition filed by Muniraju and other persons.

"The entrance test was held on September 20 to select 2,500 PDOs. Then news reports about question paper leak and other malpractice surfaced. Nearly Rs 9.96 lakh in cash and cellphones were seized, and nine persons were arrested," said petitioners' counsel S B Hebballi.

"Despite these developments, the exams were not cancelled or fresh ones held. The authorities have not taken any decision on this. Logically, the petitioners will suffer if selectons were made through these exams," the counsel told the court.

Pachyderm transfer stayed

The high court has stayed the September 7, 2009 order passed by the additional principal chief conservator of forest, transferring the custody of male elephant Girija Prasad alias Manikantan to Jacob Abraham, a resident of Kottayam, Kerala.

The elephant was with Jacob and it was gifted to Sree Ayyappa temple in Jalahalli. Then the forest department was given the custody of the elephant. An elephant needs to walk at least 30 km daily and needs plenty of water and food.

"Despite these essential requirements, the forest department had taken a decision to give the animal to the Kerala resident, ignoring the law governing the animal's welfare," said the counsel for the petitioner, CUPA.

Notice to government on a pig farmer's plea

The high court has ordered notices to the revenue secretary and tahsildar of Kanakapura taluk. This, after a petition was filed by Linda Francis Louis Sequeira. Linda rares pigs. She challenged the Septemebr 24 order passed by the excutive magistrate to close a piggery farm at Chikkadevarahalli village.

"The authorities issued this order without verifying facts. Rearing pigs is an agricultural profession. There are 2,300 livestock in the 4-acre farm. The authorities have dug trenches on the approach road. Even Bescom has disconnected power supply to the farm. This has resulted in the pigs going without food for many days," she claimed.

The tahsildar replied that hotel waste and improperly packed meat have been dirtying the area, resulting in villagers filing complaints.

Zoo Elephants Will Be Free, But Will They Adjust?

Courtesy : Jayashree Nandi, TNN 18 November 2009, 01:26am IST

BANGALORE: The Central Zoo Authority may have decided to relocate elephants in all zoos across the country to give them more space in the wilderness. But forest officials have an interesting problem on hand -- how will these animals adjust to the new lifestyle in the wild?

"There are close to 20 elephants in two zoos -- Mysore zoo and Bannerghatta. We will shift them as soon as we get orders from Delhi. The animals are used to a certain lifestyle in the zoos. I am not sure how quickly they will adapt to their new life in the open. They have to be fed regularly because they are used to eating at regular hours in the zoo," said additional principal chief conservator of forests B K Singh. The Central Zoo Authority has directed that they be shifted to forest department camps.

JUMBOS TO PACK UP

Local authorities will start preparing to relocate the elephants currently in Mysore zoo and Bannerghatta Biological Park.

Last week, the Authority decided to shift all jumbos in the zoo to the wild, and banned the use of elephants in circuses, following a public outcry over the way the animals were treated. The elephants were bearing huge loads, made to stand all day, are chained in temples and given very little space.

The picture in Bannerghatta Biological Park is a little better, though. "Most of the time, our nine elephants are left open in 500 hectares of land that we have. In the morning, they come around 10 am and stay in the enclosure in the zoo till 3 pm or 4 pm. We give them a bath and food during that time," said director of Bannerghatta Biological Park, Milo Tago.

SORROW OF CAPTIVITY

There are 160 elephants in captivity in Karnataka, one of the leading states in elephant population. "We released a study on captive elephants here, and the kind of problems they suffer. In fact, there was a comparison of captive elephants with wild elephants, which showed their suffering. However, we need to see that they are relocated so they are able to adapt. Many could have diseases," said research officer of Asian Nature Conservation Foundation, Surendra Verma.

"The condition of Bannerghatta zoo is much better than Mumbai and Delhi zoos, where elephants are kept standing all day. Many people send us complaints. We are happy that the Zoo Authority has finally decided to free them. For circus and bonded elephants in temples, it's going to be difficult because people will oppose it, after all, much money is involved. But the government needs to be focused," says Suparna Ganguly of Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA).

HIGH RENTALS

Elephant brokers rent out the giant animals for large sums. For example, an elephant for a temple for a month costs Rs 60,000. Elephants used to haul timber -- which are made to travel from Kerala to Karnataka -- cost Rs 5,000 per day.

Pups for Adoption

Hi All,

Around 2 weeks ago we have seen 4 puppies on the street. We hoped mother will come back but she abandoned them. Finally we were able to save just 2 of them.

As we are not in position to adopt them, we are looking for some good hearted people who might like to take them.
They already got a good bath and :-) we have got both of them injected and de-wormed. Both of them (boy - which we called "Charli"e and girl named "Tango") are pretty smart. We know they are going to make wonderful pets. Hopefully we will find some good homes for them.

I am attaching their pictures... Please help us with search for their new owners.

Anybody interested might get in touch with me or my husband.
My mobile: 900 87 88 772 (Monika)
And my husband's: 998 666 08 67 (Gunjan)

Warm greetings,
Monika & Gunjan