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Sherry's Diary

One Step Forward....

Transporting an injured cow

 

[note: Sherry is on the the eastern costal city of Visakha, India.  The city and the surrounding areas were wiped out in a cyclone (or hurricane) that swept through the area in mid-October.  She is there assisting the Visakha SPCA (VSPCA) and its president, Pradeep Nath.  The VSPCA cares for over 700 animals including dogs and farm animals.  Their shelter and facilities were wiped out in the Cyclone and HSI has funded rebuilding the animal shelters and caring for the injured animals.  Sherry is there to oversee the project and offer what aid HSI can.  For assistance, she has called upon the HSI supported teams from the Yudisthira Bali Street Dog Foundation and the Sri Lankan Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust (TMAWT).  Both groups have sent veterinarian teams to help with the work.  The effort is also being assisted by the animal welfare groups AHEAD, from Ahmedabad, India, and Animal Aid, from Udiapor, India.]

 

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Sherry Grant

Visakha, India

Saturday, 29 October 2005

It is Saturday, and it is a day that we should once again see some dramatic changes on the job site.

The gravel trucks were supposed to arrive in the morning, but of course they didn’t.  However, that doesn’t slow things down in terms of work to do.  Today I stop to look around and really take in the shelter.  It is has been a week and today is another typical day!

On the job site, the heavy equipment scraped away the last of the mud and dung, thus clearing the way for the start of construction on the back shed.  But where are those dump trucks?.

The HSI Disaster Response Team is made up of para-vets from AHEAD. in Ahmedabad, and Animal Aid, from Udiapor.  They came to do what was necessary and the focus today is on getting a temporary shelter constructed on higher ground.  They take to the hill with hoes and by hand they begin to flatten the area where a wood pole and palm roof structure will be built.  It isn’t ideal, but something needs to be done for the cows because the crowding is intolerable in the only permanent shed that is equipped to house cattle. Both from an animal welfare stand point and the protocols Pradeep abides by, this is the biggest emergency for the animals living at VSPCA.  There are 485 bulls and cows - some of which have been calving the past month.  In fact one was born the day before I arrived.  There is only one shed to provide shelter from the regular flash flooding.   When the torrential rains fall they gather in the shed, but there is only room for a few to lay down.  The guys have been working tirelessly every day.  They came to do animal husbandry work but have graciously pitched in to do just about every thing else.  The spirit is one hundred percent and the attitude is that the construction work is ultimately for the benefit of the animals. 

The local cattle handlers are feeding the cows in the morning in batches and then take them out for the day to higher ground.  There are about 20 local guys responsible for this – but only half show up to work.  Because the green fodder is hard to get with the heavy rains, the diet consists of a 19 different grains and proteins, scientifically balanced to meet the nutritional needs of the cattle until fodder is once again available for purchase.  It is mixed with water and reminds me of a porridge.  The cows seem to like it and when they finish the trough is clean.  The guys move the cows – they seem to know the drill.  Though the herd moves with ease and cooperation it is not without problems which emphasizes our need to move to higher ground.  A calf sinks into the mud to its belly,  he calls for help which is only seconds away and the minders free him.  This  muck and flooding is caused by lack of soils engineering and drainage planning the neighboring property where a housing development is under construction.  VSPCA will now need to put in drainage in to remedy this problem.  A problem that did not exist before the developer thoughtlessly cut down the trees and changed the natural contour of the land.  Hence VSPCA is now dealing with a man made damage as well as a natural disaster.

In the clinic the HSI veterinary Disaster Response team comprised of Dr. Kabir, with AHEAD, Dr. Telusha and Dr. Dananjaya, Tsunami Memorial Animal Welfare Trust (TMAWT) provide the veterinary services for the street dogs that are rounded up by the municipality – rain or shine.  As expected the shelter vets did not show up.  They are not reliable to begin with and then with the heavy rains and cyclones they have to deal with there own problems.  It is a headache for Sarda, the shelter manager and she is relieved in this past week that she has had reliable veterinary services.  For VSPCA it is important that the spay/neuter program continues.  A day without surgeries puts a huge burden on the already over capacity kennel.  Plus, there are other dogs that need treatment for injuries.  This is a dynamic operation and one thing affects another…..the show must go on.

I climb to the top of a hill trying to get a mobile phone signal so that I can communicate with the Yudisthira Bali Street Dog team regarding some lost passports and last minute visas.  They are suppose to be departing today to come and help us.  Good news - they are on their way.  But, as usual, with all of the equipment, they are overweight and we have to figure who to pay off.   

Standing on the hill, I watch the sky darken and close in.  Then the first droplets of rain begin to threaten what had started out to be a dry sunny day!  Dr. Chinny is helping me to sort out how to get the Bali team to us.  The train and airplane schedules are fantasy.  I know firsthand, after I had to take a 20 hour train ride to get here after the airplane got cancelled or broken.  Bless Dr. Chinny.  He receives the teams in Chennai and then organizes their transportation to here. 

Later I am on the computer catching up with the rest of my job in the world and reflecting on all of the things that have happened this week.

The single most astonishing event that sticks out in my mind was that on Tuesday, moments after Rahul’s Sehgal, A.H.E.A.D. team arrived, a five legged young bull was found by the outreach team. This stands out for me because I have only seen something like this in ‘Believe It Or Not’ kind of displays, taxidermied and dusty.  He was abandoned.  The fifth leg is atrophied and deformed and dangles off his spine over his right shoulder.  “This is an auspicious cow”, says Pradeep, “They are special and sacred”. These cows are treated like diety.  They are prayed to, dressed in special decor and revered by the Hindu religion.  I am confused.  I don’t understand why an auspicious sacred bull has been neglected to the point where it can not stand on its own.  In fact, I am getting to the point where I don’t understand how ‘sacred and auspicious’ can be connected with the suffering and neglect that I see over and over again in India’s cattle.  It is perplexing me to the point of internal anger at a community that believes one thing but completely and utterly practices something else. I am not here to judge – but it is an education for me.

I have also learned something else that I can’t wait to take back to Bali and share with my associates. The lesson I have learned is how to humanely move an injured cow.  This is a problem that we have not been able to adequately solve.  They have a solution here and I am so excited that I fill up my camera’s memory stick with photos of them doing it.

Then someone says, “Go see in the shed there is a beautiful bull with a fifth leg”.

Halfway through the day the gravel trucks arrive.  They come three minutes apart, it is like clock work and the back filling begins to give shape to the project.  The trucks work into the black of night, dumping their loads with an occasional truck getting stuck in the mud.  There were also a few close calls when the trucks almost hit a sacred tree that Pradeep is trying to save. 

One step forward and one step backwards. The bad news is that we had to sacrifice the access road in order to get the gravel truck in.  It has been absolutely destroyed.  We anticipated this, but to actually see it still hurts.  It’s just another thing that we need to fix.

I’m glad that HSI can help to restore this vital facility…….every day I have been paid back in gratitude by Pradeep and his team.

 

 

Click here for the VSPCA Website: www.VisakhaSPCA.org

 

 

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