It’s not an SPCA – it’s an SPKA!
By Elizabeth Doyle
What on earth is an SPKA? It’s just one of the neat new terms you can learn from our International Rescuer of the Week.
Dr. Chinny Krishna is his name. But this story begins before he was even born.
His father, Captain Sundaram was a famous Indian airplane pilot. He once broke the record for the fastest flight time from London to Madras in a De Havilland Dove. And in his 35 year career, he never had an accident.
But Captain Sundaram was famous for something else, too. He loved animals, and if there were an animal on the runway, he would keep circling his plane round and round until someone got out there and moved the poor thing. One time, he managed to get his plane to “hop” over a snake so he wouldn’t hurt it! That made the newspaper.
But it was in 1959, when he was married and had three children, that he made his biggest leap for the animals. It was a rainy day, and he found two puppies drowning in a flooded road. He saved them, and decided he needed to do more saving. With his family’s blessings, he turned their home into a small shelter for animals. And that was just the beginning …
Soon, the Blue Cross of India was born. And before he died in 1997, this new organization of Captain Sundaram’s would accomplish so much for animals that he would win the Queen Victoria Medal from the RSPCA, and the posthumously awarded Prani Mitral Award, presented by the Vice President of India, Shri Krishan Kant.
And the captain’s story lives on in his son …
Dr. Chinny Krishna grew up in a home full of his father’s rescued animals. “All of us at home loved having the animals there,” he says. “I later realized how difficult it must have been on my mother – feeding three children, a husband and 50 assorted animals – but I never heard her complain. Even today, at 83, she goes to the Blue Cross shelters regularly and looks after all the many animals we have at home.”
He did so well in school that he went to college at the young age of 15. Then, he became what he jokingly calls, “the kind of doctor that can do nobody any good! After obtaining a Masters degree in Chemical Engineering, I obtained a Masters in Business Administration and a Ph.D. in Management.” To this day, he is CEO of a company that manufactures equipment for space research and atomic energy.
But in his spare time, he’s following his father’s legacy of saving the animals of the world! He is now the Chairman of Blue Cross India.
Dr. Chinny’s own involvement with animals began when he worked as an honorary Humane Officer for the Madras SPCA. In addition to being a shelter, he says, “The Blue Cross was, initially, really a pressure group within the Madras SPCA.” It was trying to broaden the organization’s vision of animal welfare – rather than simply looking for animal abusers to prosecute, the Blue Cross wanted to focus on promoting kindness through education so that abuse wouldn’t even be an issue. “A sort of SPKA, if you will,” says Dr. Chinny. “A Society for the Promotion of Kindness to Animals”.
Over the years, with the help of many people including our founder and son heroes, Blue Cross grew to be the largest animal welfare organization in India, with shelters and spay/neuter clinics scattered throughout the area. “We currently do about 15,000 spays and neuters every year, and over 1,000 animals are present in our five centres at any point in time,” says Dr. Chinny. “All our services – out seven ambulances, mobile spay clinic, out and in-patient facilities, spaying and neutering – all are done free of any charge. The only services we do request mayment from are those who feel they can pay for vaccinating their companion animals.” They never put an animal to sleep unless he or she is suffering, and more incredibly, they never turn an animal away. Though they do try to convince people to keep their animals instead!
Blue Cross coined the term “ABC” which you often hear in Indian animal welfare. It stands for “Animal birth control”, and means the same thing that trap/neuter/return means in the USA. “We called this the Animal Birth Control (or ABC) programme to impress upon people that control of the street dog population was as simple as ABC!” Today, no street dogs are killed in the area of Chennai where Blue Cross operates. They are spayed and neutered instead.
In addition, Blue Cross is very political. They pushed hard for the Indian government to set up a committee that investigates how animals are treated in laboratories. It worked. But when the committee was seeming a tad ineffective, Dr. Chinny decided he’d better be on it himself! So in 1996, he joined the committee, and within two years, the first legislation addressing animal use and breeding in laboratories was passed. He was also appointed Honorary Vice Chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India.
It wasn’t until 2001, however, that Dr. Chinny was elected Chairman of his father’s now expansive organization. It was an honor, he says, that he was elected unanimously, but he’s also quick to point out that one vote was missing – his own. He refused to vote for himself!
And certainly, none of his many accomplishments have been done completely by himself. Like many people where he lives, Dr. Chinny didn’t choose his own wife. His was an arranged marriage. But he couldn’t be happier about the woman his family picked! “Since our marriage in 1974, Nanditha has been an integral part of my work,” he says. “both in my business and for animals (and I of hers). Equally important to me has been the tremendous support I received from her parents who also strongly believed in the work I was doing.”
And Blue Cross is only getting stronger. “In the last 45 years,” says Dr. Chinny, “progress has been visible. My hope for animals everywhere is based on the ancient Indian prayer: May all that has life be delivered from suffering.”
Thank you so much, Dr. Chinny Krishna, for talking to us!
“Thank you, and may all living beings be happy.”
How can you help? Throughout the month of June, you can click on the “International Rescue Fund” button to the right of your screen to make a donation to Blue Cross, and to many other organizations who are saving animals in India.
You can also visit the Blue Cross website at
http://www.bluecross.org.in