Today is the independence day. The most historic and special day for all we Indians. While we humans are all celebrating this special day but what about our fauna? This is one country which has very rich fauna. All types of animals can be found in this country. But unfortunately they have not been given much importance. The Indian dog lives like a stray. He is looked down upon and is often treated like a filth. The prevention of cruelty to animals act 1960 has not been amended for the last 60 years. The penalties and punishments for any kind of cruelty towards animals are very weak. The dog rules 2001 which talks about the ABC program and vaccination of dogs as the only solution to control dog population has been totally ignored by many states of India and the ones who are doing it are doing it in the most apathetic and unsystematic manner..
Recently in an interview Maneka Gandhi the founder of People for Animals and Member of Parliament revealed how outdated and poor our veterinary education system is. Sadly the whole animal sector is in a very sorry state. Given below are some of the major points she spoke about:
1 She called herself a matchstick and a mother. As we use the matchstick to light the lamp and then throw it similarly ninety percent of the people who are today criticising her have used her and taken her help but now are up against her. But that doesn't bother her. She considers them as her children. She will still help them whenever they or their furry friends are in need and seek her help.
2 She gets around 30 to 40 complaints daily. In the absence of any animal ombudsman or any complaint mechanism people call her for any kind of injustices done to them or to their furry friends. She mentioned about a case where a vet in Vellore uses needles used for sewing clothes on dogs and that too without admintering them with anesthesia. The unfortunate dogs died within two weeks. When she complained about this to the DM, the DM instead of taking any action against the vet, he simply gifted the vet with surgical equipments. Now how has that brought justice to the dead animals who died due to the vet's negligence??? And how can gifting surgical equipments change the malicious mindset of the vet?
2 The veterinary education in India is absolutely outdated. No reforms have happened for the last 30 years. The veterinary colleges are teaching the same old syllabus. There are no provisions for any kind of refresher courses or training programs for the vets. There is no teaching of wildlife or anything practical. Ninety percent of the teaching is about insemination of cows and how to create animals for slaughterhouse.
3 The veterinary students are sent to slaughterhouses for their internships. This further kills their compassion towards animals. Instead they should be doing at least a two month internship with NGOs who run animal shelters.
4 The veterinary doctors should not be doing any kind of breeding of dogs but 70% of them are selling dogs from breeders. They are doing tail cutting, ear cutting etc., which are all illegal. There are suppose to be state veterinary councils in every state but in reality they do not exist.
5 Recently a judge in Punjab sent his pet dog ( Doberman) for an anti rabies vaccination to one of the best veterinary colleges of the state. The two vets who had to administer the vaccine instead of putting a plastic muzzle around the dog's mouth chose to tie the dog's mouth tightly with a rope. And then they started searching for the vaccine for half an hour. By the time they got ready with the vaccine the dog was already dead. The judge thereafter lodged a complaint against the negligent vets. But soon after all the vets ganged up and went on a strike. The judge had to ultimately withdraw his complaint. In another case a puppy who was suffering from loose motions was injected orange juice by a vet. The victims of such negligent and irresponsible vets have no platform where they can lodge their complaint. The only solution they have is to go to consumer courts and seek compensation for their dogs.
6 The govt unfortunately is not taking veterinary sector seriously at all.
To listen to the full interview kindly go on the link below:
(The intreview was taken by Robin Singh the founder of Peepal Farm)
Isn't it sad that the lady who speaks so vociferously and fearlessly against the weak and debilitated animal sector is today being called anti animal. She was first targeted for speaking against the vets and thereafter for the unfortunate incident which took place at Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre (SGACC) which is owned by her and run by her sister Ambika Shukla.
To run animal shelters with such poor and weak animal sector is not easy at all. It is the most unorganised and neglected sector in India. What happened at SGACC on 5th July 2021 is highly condemnable and barbaric but should that be the reason for its shutting down?
The centre which used to run round the clock 365 days is now running only it's OPD services from 9 AM to 9 PM. And the worse is that many injured and sick animals have no where to go now. The shelters like SPCA Noida and Friendicoes are now inundated with injured and sick animals.
Recently a caregiver had sent his (Sumit-+919717712715) sick dog to SPCA Noida. The dog ran out of the shelter and is now no where to be found. Sumit's mother who used to feed the dog and her babies is crying day and night for the lost dog and hoping and praying that one day she will return to her and to her babies who are just three months old.
Now isn't this negligence on the part of the management but we all know that SPCA Noida is one of the best centres and they will knowingly and intentionally never harm any animal at their centre. This happens many times. Such incidents are bound to happen when the shelters become overcrowded. SGACC has 3000 animals living there and they cater to around 250 dogs everyday. So one can imagine the kind of traffic they used to manage everyday.
Let's hope the centre does not close down and they start operating round the clock once again.
Independence day is meant to be celebrated by all the living species of India and that includes all the animals. Well thanks to all the caregivers, animal shelters and the veterinarians (as some of them are life savers for these voiceless) the animals too have a reason to celebrate this most historic day with us.
This is an Independence day video which has been made by the caregivers Vandana Jain, Vrinda vyas joshi, Shaily Sood and Vandana's darling dog Me’she
(Vandana Jain runs the Dogitization campaign in Indore)