Animal Rescue Kerala...

I was standing on the Shangumugam beach a week or so ago... Myself with a bunch of TidyCity guys!
We were there on a beach cleanup campaign. The bunch of us were waiting for the remaining to turn up while basically fooling around, taking pictures and the like. Suddenly a cute lil pup came from nowhere. Adorable!... A white furry lil thing. Took our hearts away! All the while running around our feet and finally falling asleep there too. He didn't look like a stray though. We were charmed by this fur ball, and so, a TidyCity member suggested calling up Animal Rescue Kerala to take the little guy.

So that's how I came across this organization. Since I was and am basically jobless at the moment, besides being an avid animal lover, I thought of volunteering at this organization.

Animal Rescue Kerala or ARK is situated in Kovalam near Trivandrum city.
This organization goes against the practice of culling stray dogs to balance the dog population in cities. A more humane technique is to spay them, rather than culling. This way the the benefits are three-fold:

1. The dogs tend to get less aggressive. esp the males.
2. The population is under control because there are lesser reproduction rates.
3. Since they are vaccinated against rabies together with neutering, the area from where the dogs are from becomes a rabies-free zone.

This organization was initiated and developed around 7 years ago by an English woman, Avis Lyons. Though initially started for taking in abandoned dogs and also for sterilizing, now ARK takes in all injured animals brought there and treats them. They also try to find the abandoned a good home.

Today was my first day of volunteering at ARK. As of now there are about 50 to 60 dogs of all breeds and sizes, a few cats and kittens, a few puppies, and 3 or 4 horses.

The one thing I was quite surprised to see was the large number of pedigree dogs there.
I was expecting to work with mostly strays. Quite stupid of me to think that, but still, I did.
There were more than 30 pedigrees. German shepherds, Terriers, Great Danes, Dobermans etc. I was informed that these were either abandoned in very bad conditions.. Abandoned because of maggot wounds, disfigured by chains or leashes... the list is endless.
Another observation was that there were more females abandoned than males. When you can spay both the males and females, I wonder why this observation?

The horses were those abandoned, once again in bad shapes, and with terrible disfigurations, from Shangumugam.

Two of them particularly touched me. One was a beautiful milky white Great Dane. He had a huge brown spot around a ear. He was blind. He had two pink holes for eyes. I fell in love at the spot.
Another was an abandoned chap who had both his hind legs chopped off with some instrument. Now healthy, he moves around with a cycle like apparatus for his hind quarters.

Today was fulfilling. I was there doing what I like best, with some of the most loving creatures there are.

How anyone can hurt them is beyond me. I wish people would think beyond cutting animals into pieces for their curry.
All animals suffer this plight, be it horses, or monkeys, or lions, or tigers, or elephants, or whales.

Please support and raise your voice for the conservation cause!!

For further information on the Animal Rescue Kerala, log onto
www.animalrescuekerala.org