Continued from Part One

Starting ABC/TNR

Blue Cross of India in 1964 started the very first ABC, or TNR, program—in the world—and they have kept it going without interruption for 45 years. (ABC stands for “animal birth control”). Along the way, they’ve spayed/neutered 80% of the street dogs in Chennai (a giant city with hundreds of thousands of animals)—and inspired the national government of India to pass a law requiring every municipality in India to fund ABC for animals, essentially making India the first no-kill country in the world.  (In practice there are still some difficulties with enforcement—but there has been major progress.)

The ABC philosophy has spread across Asia and parts of Africa since then, and Blue Cross has had much to do with this compassionate way of relating to street animals.  This no-kill philosophy is acknowledged and accepted by virtually all animal welfare organizations in Asia.

Every year Blue Cross spays/neuters, vaccinates, and returns 12,000 dogs and around 1200 cats.

The incidents of rabies occurring in humans, in Chennai, has dropped from over a hundred cases annually several years ago—and now has been down to zero for four years in a row.  This is directly attributable to the ABC program.

Ambulance service for all kinds of animals

It’s not only cats and dogs that are rescued by Blue Cross’s ambulance service, but also cows, horses, donkeys, birds, and monkeys are commonly picked up and brought back to Blue Cross for treatment. A careful record is always kept of precisely where the animals come from, and they are returned to that exact location, assuming they are well enough.  There may be people in the neighborhood who are feeding and caring for them, and there will certainly be sources of food that the animal knows about.  Very importantly too, their friends--either human or animal friends--are also there and are an essential part of their lives—so they need to be put back into the neighborhoods where they came from.

If an animal doesn’t fully recover or has a disability—maybe  a cat who is blind or maybe a dog like Tripod—or in the case of kittens and puppies, who are not returned to the streets—then they are either adopted out into loving homes or they continue to live at Blue Cross.

Blue Cross has five centers; two of these are outside Chennai.  It’s one of the largest animal sanctuaries in the world.  The center at Guindy is home for the cats, and for many dogs, pigs, and cows, until they can find new homes.

The cat area has recently been totally transformed—

Upgrades for cats and kitties

Dr. Krishna describes the changes to the cat area:

While the three main cat areas continue to be where the majority of our resident felines stay, the cats that are awaiting or recovering from spaying / neutering operations and those young kittens that have to be hand fed have all been moved to the first floor (or ground floor, as we say here) so that they are constantly visible to all the staff. Many of these require extra warmth so are kept under lights which provide heat, and are bottle fed every few hours…
 
The small-animal surgery which was used for cats as well as dogs brought in by their guardians will now be exclusively for cats -- both for surgery as well as for treatment.
 
A separate room adjoining the new out-patient department will serve as a holding and observation (quarantine) area for new cat admissions to further minimize the chances of infections to other occupants.
 
A new small Maruti ambulance has been donated by Mr. Sumant Subramaniam, an architect, and is extremely useful for rescuing and transporting small animals.
 
Volunteers Sudhersena and Madhu have the help of a few other volunteers now and are doing a great job. One veterinarian is there full time exclusively for the cat section.

How you can help

To read Part One, click here.

To visit the website of Blue Cross of India, click here.

If you’d like to help some of the street animals that Blue Cross is rescuing and putting back on their feet again, you may send a donation in care of Animal People Newspaper. Please indicate that your donation is for Blue Cross of India, click here.

Top photo: Narayanan Hariharan / Dr. Chinny Krishna with one of his dogs, Bhairava

Second photo: Narayanan Hariharan / One of the puppies at the Blue Cross

Third photo: Djk / Dreamstime.com / A cat