News
Finding new homes for Kolkata's animals
December 03, 2008, 2:27AM MT
By Sharon St. Joan
Everybody needs a home
Everybody needs a home
By Sharon St. Joan, Best Friends Network
Tito now has a happy home, and, in fact, he also had a happy home in the past, but sadly, his person developed a terminal illness. Afraid that his dog might be left without care if he had to go into the hospital, he took him to ASHARI, where he knew that Tito would receive lots of love and attention until he could be adopted. ASHARI's hospital manager, Dr. Annapurna, personally cared for Tito during his stay there until he found his new home.
Every year ASHARI re-homes around 200 dogs and formally re-homes a few cats as well. Generally though, the cats of ASHARI, after their medical concerns are taken care of and after being spayed or neutered, are allowed to roam free in the neighborhood where they are welcomed by the local people, and they tend to "get themselves adopted".
Every country has somewhat different circumstances. In India the street dogs and cats are neighborhood residents.
"You know cats can charm people by their pranks," writes Debasis Chakrabarti, Managing Trustee of People for Animals - Kolkata, and Founder of the sister organization, Compassionate Crusaders Trust. ASHARI is the newest and largest of their centers, all in the northeastern city Kolkata, on the shore of the Bay of Bengal.
In the seventies, Debasis Chakrabarti gave up studying to become a physician in order to study animal psychology instead. Then he began working with biting dogs who'd been rejected by their owners. This led to his founding the rescue center, "Dog's Own", which became the predecessor to Compassionate Crusaders Trust.
Finding great homes
Compassionate Crusaders Trust provides free vet treatment to low-income animal owners. They adopt out bulls, cows, and ponies to villagers who own their own farms, on the condition that they be informed if the animal becomes sick or dies and that the animal may not be transferred to another owner without prior permission.
They check out the adoption applications carefully, with the assistance of a large network of people, who will do home visits and generally check the accuracy of the information provided on the adoption form.
Normally, around 250 dogs are formally relinquished to the shelter every year, admitted along with a photo, the medical history of the dog, and a signed statement that the person has no objection to the re-homing of the dog. Another fifty or so dogs are picked up directly from the street--those in distress or those who've been injured in an accident.
The dog handlers/vet techs, Jhontu, Goutam, and Basak, take excellent care of the dogs, and for them an adoption is always an occasion of mixed feelings of happiness for the dog and sadness to see him or her go.
The adopters often send little notes and updates about their new family member. "Snowy has brought sunshine to our family," wrote one recent new dog parent.
Lassy or Raja?
Lassy is a popular name for the dogs that come to ASHARI, as are Spot and the less western name, Raja. Cats are likely to be named Minoo or Woolly. Finding loving homes for the animals is one of the most rewarding aspects of the work of Compassionate Crusaders Trust.
The very large number of services and facilities that they run throughout Kolkata include a charitable day clinic, the main ASHARI Hospital, a cattle camp for village animals, a horse camp, the Karuna Kunj rehabilitation shelter for dogs, cats, and birds--and the Dhappa Dog Pound which used to kill dogs, but since it was handed over to Compassionate Crusaders Trust in 1996, it has been no-kill. They also run a large, effective spay/neuter TNR program for the city's animals.
Sick and injured dogs are taken off the streets and cared for. Healthy dogs are vaccinated, spayed/neutered and then released. TNR is the normal approach taken by animal groups to help the street dogs of India.
Lots of room for different sizes of animals
Inaugurated in January 2001, the ASHARI hospital covers four and a half acres. It has separate operating rooms and recovery rooms for dogs, cats, and birds, exam rooms, state-of-the-art diagnostic and x-ray equipment, with in-patient facilities for 20 dogs, 24 cats and 12 other small animals. There's a large exercise area for the dogs--and a playground for the cats who are feeling better and are well enough to play.
Large animals have their own facilities, with operating, recovery and exam rooms, all fully equipped, and in-patient facilities for 20 horses, cows, or donkeys, and a small pond to bathe in.
The successful, happy outcome of an animal's recovery is leaving the ASHARI Adoption Center to go home with their new family. In the case of large animals, it is off to a small village farm--not a farm where one is in any danger of becoming dinner, but a farm where one is secure for life, as part of the household.
What you can do
To learn more about the work of Compassionate Crusaders Trust, please go to
http://www.animalcrusaders.org/
Photos: Compassionate CrusadersTrust
Top photo: "School Children visiting ASHARI- our Hospital Manager (now retired) is giving them a live-demo"
Second photo: Tito
Third photo: One of the ASHARI cats
Fourth photo: a family adopting a dog