We have looked into their helpless eyes, and the government must too. Another eight pups dumped  at Govt Queen’s Vet Hospital entrance today at 4 pm. It brings the total this week to 19. This alarming,  ongoing situation at the facility at the 24/7 Queens Vet Hospital needs to be sorted. The same complaints has plagued the Hebbal Veterinary campus for ages where pet dogs & streeties are dumped, unwanted dogs are abandoned and pedigree dogs too sick to care for  after taking them for treatment are left as the breeders, owners feel it is not worth their time or the expense. What next?

In the last three months alone, Queens Veterinary hospital has seen over 100 dogs, cats over various ages and illness dumped in the campus. Many died. We presciently mentioned this in our letter to AHVS Secy last year. It falls on burnt-out burdened rescuers like Vikash Bafna and others  to take care of them, take them to shelter, or  spend money on trying to treat them, then trying to get these poor, abandoned animals housed or adopted- and the final trauma of burying a confused, suffering tragic being in an unmarked grave. Pedigrees, Indies, accident cases, breeder discards, The spiralling nightmare for any animal lover or rescuer who happens to visit these two campuses and sees the level of desperation and sadness in these poor animals left  to their fate to die, be attacked by territorial dogs, new-born puppies just dumped by cruel resident welfare associations who want to get rid of these tiny beings  leaving a lactating and agonized mother behind. It’s our fault as a city that we haven’t neutered all these dogs - these pups are a consequence. Who is taking responsibility? Who is paying the price? Who is blaming whom? 

Some of the cases that we deal with are listed below but it’s time we citizens  stopped agonizing, stepping up, paying for care, foster, trying to adopt and basically trying ineffectually  to behave like a tiny little ineffectual  government by our self. We are drowning. We are overwhelmed. The system cannot hold us ransom for our compassion It’s time for the government to step up. The government which is the BBMP, AHVS, KAWB, has to just do its job rather than unfairly depending on the little guy - us - to solve these issues. 

What we want is :

1. Better CCTV footage at entrances. Better support from security on people entering the premises 
2. Better support from the University, and/or KAWB, SPCA to take action against such perpetrators
3. Create capacity. Ensure that these animals are housed at the shelter with some amount of care, medical  and food can be provided. Existing shelters are overloaded and fund-starved , and this additional burden cannot be managed. Moreover shelters are no place, given high risk of vulnerability to infection in case of young pups or kittens.
4. AHVS and BBMP budgets MUST include this provision. We need funds allocated to these animals care,  medical costs  and possibly future adoption. When we send inputs for budgets to both SPCA /KAWB, it is dismissed and ignored. 
5. Formal education, awareness and understanding this kind of attitude cannot be tolerated and more people need to adopt don’t shop. In fact  most people do not know it’s illegal to abandon animals.
6. Posters and communication are required at the hospitals and other place where this can happen. 
7. Sadly many of the overburdened vets themselves font know the laws and their duty in this issue , and leave these cases to the volunteers. Who takes care of these volunteers, Get the vets to care . Even Bowring takes care of the poorest of the poor. Why cant we?  
8. Making an example of a case or two RIGHT now is needed, so people can know. Let them give up responsibly to a shelter, with all medical details , so care can be taken.  
9. A short term shelter and holding facility be set up by the government in these sites. In parallel, care has to be taken that it doesn’t  end up validate dumping these dogs by the public.
10. In campus shelters  need immediate action. The University also must do a little more.- as they have the facilities and staff.  Both the shelters  Hebbal  campuses  cannot do as much as needed. CUPA Trauma Centre  as is  already overstretched having lost most of the space , and managing in barely a corridor of its old space. Karuna is a further slap in the face  as they have a massive campus facility but completely clear about ignoring  any case without money/donation. We have seen many people being turned back. This is a shame and must be sorted. Queens Vet Hospital also needs a small shelter, and in house campus must show some compassion to these creatures. 

The level of distance from the government to care for the very animals that it is mandated to look after is immensely painful to accept. Rescuers are burnt out handling case after case , taking on costs, time  and stress for a problem that they have no control over. In fact. there has been no  institutional attempt to even accept or address the issue  of these abandoned animals at each of these hospitals. In fact in the Hebbal  hospital , the animals sometimes sit there for days on end without even being noticed..

All this means the odds are stacked against the poor animals who have done nothing except to be abandoned to their fate by a  human being. The system does nothing for the rescuers whose heart breaks watching this trauma,  unnecessary amount of suffering and being forced to  step up to do something about it at their cost , time and heartbreak. It does not show our state government or city corporation in a good light,  who  should be preventing such a thing either by better control on abandonment or having been better shelter facilities  - but they have not stepped up once to acknowledge or address this problem. 

We demand that a clear course of action is jotted out by the government in conjunction with its citizens to ensure that this repeated abandonment   issue is not only addressed but also prevent it with education and awareness of animal laws across the city.

Whether as  concerned citizens who have read the constitution or animal lovers, we  are marginalised, ignored, and despised by very the system  we support, for caring for these  helpless animals. We are tired. We refuse to weep over yet another anonymous dog buried in yet another unmarked grave. 

GoK: Step up. Do the right thing. Create capacity. Help.