Tree Of Life For Animals

Read about a typical April day at our animal shelter in India as experienced by Serena, one of our hospital managers.

‘The scent of roses greets me as I emerge from my room, thoughtfully the neighbouring roof top is carpeted with drying petals to distill into the famous fragrance “Pushkar Rose”. I stop in the market square to fill my bag with a fresh crop of vegetables, from a wizened gypsy resplendent in emerald green bustier and bare midriff. She likes to throw in some extra chillies and garlic and I can’t explain they’re not in the doggies diet.

I weave down the bazaar out to the snaking road through the hilly valley. They are dynamiting in the quarry beside the road and I wait for the shower of rocks to descend, somewhat nervously.

The shelter dogs crowd round my scooter wagging and barking, munching on their morning biscuit ration. Ginger, the head boy with his stiff, straight back legs, gets lively and vocal.’

Dogs in the sand - keeping cool after a morning welcome

‘So into the shelter, with many namaste’s and hellos.

Sharda, Kishore’s wife and our first Indian lady to work in the shelter, and I busy ourselves in the new puppy kennel house with 12 little pups requiring breakfast. The very fragile ones will need syringe feeding. We cluster them round the steps in the sun, the mange ones roll in the sand.

Milk and kibble is served to special cases in the rescue block which is divided into 4 separate corridors – Mange, sterilisation overflow, long stay patients with trans-venereal tumours and the infectious section and finally surgery/wounds. Here I find the object of my devotion, a red, recent foreleg amputee with hazel green eyes and we have an ecstatic reunion. Squirrel Nutkin (not so easy for the Indian tongue) leaps out of his basket and squeals with delight.

Justin, one of the shelter dogs, has been confined to barracks with mange and is furious, he howls in a piercing way and dances around. He refuses to wear his buster collar and is like a bolshie teenager.

Indians love having their photo taken, and I embark on an impromptu photo shoot of the staff. They all want to pose embracing Three wheeler, the shaggy amputee collie type shelter dog and I explain it’s better if they’re depicted with a variety of shelter animals - we do have many to choose from!

So Gopal bottle feeds a calf, Dr Anoop wants to wait till tomorrow when he’s shaved, Radhe very diplomatically presents Squirrel Nutkin and of course the two photogenic paralysed pups, Charles and Edward are a popular accessory.

” />

Charles & Edward

The 4 boys and two vets on sterilisation rota today get scrubbed and gloved and the 20 dogs destined for the regimented production line are carried in for ear tattoos, shaving, snipping and stitching. By lunchtime all are in recovery.

Sharda has chopped the mornings vegetables and is crouching over the fire stirring the pot, her blue sari glittering in the sun, the smoke wafting around her, so ethereal.

Sharda cooking our special homemade dog food

It’s commotion as 15 boys scrabble for leads to take their allocated dogs for a promenade. I bring them Gulab Jamen as a thank you and the doctors are like priests at communion popping a round sticky ball into the mouths of the queuing boys.

Walking the dogs

I walk round the 60 kennels, peering in. They thump their tails, or leap around “Me Me me” they implore. We have a cuddle and a stroke and a chat. A lovely old boy with a rasping cough has had acid thrown on this coat. It’s unbelievable man’s wickedness. His wounds are healing nicely and I strain to lift him out to lay him outside in the shade to smell the air.

Today’s washing flaps in the light wind. The clatter of metal dishes being collected and scrubbed. Evening meal preparation.

So many dogs to remember, never enough hours in the day. Don’t forget to feed bullied Rosie round the back, the 12 pups in their intensive care unit with the puppy sized bowls, Charles and Edward are expectant in the large animal theatre, the peacock housed temporarily in the loo, needs grapes and seeds.

So it’s full throttle homeside after a tender good-bye to Squirrel Nutkin.’

The beautiful Squirrel Nutkin ready for bed