TOI: Helping hands, happy feet: December 29, 2010

Just a few days prior to Christmas,activist Benazir Suraiya of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India saw six hens lying unconscious in a tiny cage of a poultry shop in Versova.She persuaded the owner to give her the birds,which were on the brink of death.We brought the half-dead chicken to our office to take care of them.Surprisingly,the birds showed signs of recovery,and very soon were perfectly healthy,definitely happier to be out of those terrifying cramped wire-meshes where they were kept for being slaughtered, said Suraiya.A Christmas party was organized later for the rescued chicken,who were fed corn,seeds and other tasty bird food by none less than Santa Claus himself.We can only save a tiny fraction of the chicken who suffer every minute of their lives in the meat and egg industries, said PETA Indias Himani Shetty.But billions could be saved if more people simply switched to a healthy and humane vegan diet, she added.The feathered guests,of course,enjoyed the party,perhaps thanking their lucky stars no end that they were the ones feasting and had not ended up on some plate as chicken tikka or tandoori chicken.

The ACT: Saving six half-dead chicken from a cramped cage in a poultry shop, where they were lying unconscious – Benazir Suraiya | PETA ACTIVIST

It was a call this cop could not have refused.After all,it was about rescuing a speciesthe monitor lizardamong those afforded maximum protection under Indian wildlife laws.One morning around two months ago,I received a frantic call from an advocate in Chembur asking for help to save a monitor lizard that had entered their society premises, says Jaywant Dukhande,PSI at the Nirmal Nagar Police station in Khar.Dukhande,who was on holiday at the time,rushed to the spot.Locals said the lizard had come from the forest near Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).Many people had gathered to see the animal.The lizard had entered a pit and was unable to come out, said Dukhande,a resident of Gorai,Borivli.We attended to it and decided to release it in the dense forest.We placed it in a box and later released it in the wild, he added.This saved the 3.5-ft-long monitor lizarda rare breed.Wildlife is my passion and I rarely refuse an emergency call, he said.

The ACT: Aiding a monitor lizard out of a pit in a building compound and releasing it into the wild – Jaywant Dukhande | PSI

Gavin Desouza (22) could not resist himself when he saw three young abandoned spotted owlets at his uncles farmhouse in Karjat.He took over the role of a caretaker to ensure that the birds survived and lived naturally in the wild.The locals handed them over to me, said Desouza,a nature enthusiast training to be a pilot.He created a little enclosure within his house for his new friends,trying to make it look as wild as possible.Initially I would feed live food to the little ones.But once they got adjusted to the surroundings,I left geckos and insects in the room,where the little ones lived, said Desouza.The room also had a lamp that would light up at night and attract insects.Desouza said,It was a pleasure to see the young ones hunt and learn survival tactics that would help them fend for themselves in the wild. After two months,once the birds grew old enough and were able to hunt on their own,they were shifted to an enclosure outside the house.They were finally released into the wild but even now often visit the house, he said.

The ACT: Rearing three abandoned spotted owlets till they were capable of living and hunting on their own in the forest – Gavin Desouza | NATURE ENTHUSIAST

In the last week of October,Koparkhairane resident Shahabuddin Bagadia noticed a heavily pregnant stray dog lying by the roadside and howling in pain.What was more disturbing was that no passer-by or motorist bothered to stop and help the poor animal who was in so much anguish.When I went near the stray,I realized that she had fractured her hip bone after being hit by a speeding car.But what really upset me was that nobody else showed any concern for the dog, said Bagadia,who runs a restaurant in the locality.He then called up Navi Mumbai-based activist Aditi Lahiri,with whose help he managed to bring the stray to a safe spot before calling a vet from In Defense of Animals (IDA).If it was not for Bagadia who stopped and heeded her cries,the stray would have died a painful death.Thankfully,she later recovered and even gave birth to puppies, said Lahiri.

The ACT: Helping a pregnant stray badly injured by a speeding car – Shahabuddin Bagadia | KOPARKHAIRANE RESIDENT

Arare species of Indian grey mongoose (Herpestes Edwardsi) was rescued from a service centre on the Sion-Trombay road by activists from the Plant and Animal Welfare Society (PAWS).Rescue efforts began when Sunish Subramanian,founder of PAWS,received a call in the morning from a person working in a service centre about the mongoose being trapped inside a car engine.

It is not known how the mongoose entered the engine.It may have done so at night from below and got trapped.When the worker at the centre saw the animal,he got scared and started making frantic calls, said Subramanian.The species is found in open forests,scrublands and cultivated fields,and preys on rodents,snakes,birds eggs and a variety of invertebrates.

It was the first time we saw a wild animal trapped in a car engine.We removed it with the help of the mechanics.The animal was later released in the forests on the citys outskirts, he said.

A few months later,he also rescued a monitor lizard in Bhandup.

The ACT: Rescuing a rare mongoose that had entered a car engine – Sunish Subramanian | ACTIVIST

CARTING BULLOCKS TO SAFER PASTURES

Efforts of various animal rights organizations and individuals over the past few years to ban the use of cruel and outdated bullock-carts as a mode of transport finally showed some positive results this year.

Activists say the government is waking up to the inhuman conditions in which the animals live and are made to work,and is legislating to gradually change all that.
The Maharashtra government is finally paying heed to the need to free overburdened bullocks in big cities like Mumbai.A government notification was released earlier this year to ban the use of bullocks to pull kerosene and oil tanks, said Dr Manilal Valliyate of PETA India.

Animal activists are also persuading sugarcane farmers in the state to stop whipping and overloading these gentle giants in rural areas.Often,two bullocks are forced to pull a mammoth 4,500-kg load of sugarcane,instead of the allowed limit of 1,750 kg,which results in stress,joints problems and even early death for the bullocks.

The ACT: Banning the use of bullock-carts or regulating their use through government intervention;requesting farmers not to overload the animals way beyond capacity – Animal Activists In The State