The Trumpet : Newsletter of The Trumpet on 5th May, 2007
THE TRUMPET ( VOL.I ISSUE 2 ) DATE:- 5TH MAY 2007
CONTENTS:-
1. FROM THE HORSES MOUTH by MADHAVI DARUWALLA ( EDITOR )
2. WOH SHAAM KUCHH AJEEB THI :- BY RAAG BHOPALI
3. NUMBER CRUNCHING 2006-07 by DR.SUHAS RANE ( Hon Secretary )
4. WISHLIST ( AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY, RESIDENT TEALS )
5. APPEAL ( DEBASHISH MAJUMDAR, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY )
1. FROM THE HORSES MOUTH by MADHAVI DARUWALLA ( EDITOR )
Every dog has his day and we as an animal organisation had ours on the 7th of January 2007 at Sivaswamy Auditorium, The Fine Arts Society, Chembur. And what a day it was…….all tickets sold, auditorium filled to capacity, a dream situation for any Event Manager.
“Klub Nostalgia”, a wonderful group who performs for “Noble Causes “, rendered melodies from the Golden era of Hindi films, getting encore after encore. To make this day happen there were some special friends of Thane SPCA who slogged days on end for 3 months before the show, giving their time and effort and still many who stood stoically behind us in case we faltered. Our list of thanks is a mile long, but you all know who you are and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We would also like to thank the thousand odd who came to see our show and showed us your support by buying our tickets, and those who sponsored the ads in our souvenir. You all have enabled us to procure more medicines, better facilities and indirectly helped us save so many animals’ lives.
On the April 1st, yes, All Fools day, two years back we followed our hearts and made our dream of our hospital a reality. We feared we might be making a fool of ourselves, but your prayers and efforts have vindicated us. We have been able to construct a ” goshala”, an aviary and a beautiful “Eco friendly” bamboo office for our office bearers and staff. We now have a separate electric meter from MSEB, a separate Municipal water connection and an Invertor, so that even if electricity fails us we do not fail our inmates and patients. We are proud owners of a double door frost free refrigerator donated to us by our Treasurer, Anuradha Ramaswami, and spanking furniture and an A/C for the surgery donated to us by our very own Behind-The- Scene donor couple who as usual wish to stay anonymous. Amidst all, our staff ( Dr. Madhuri, Paramedics-Siddharth, Ram, Prakash, ward boys Ashok, Lahu, Suryakant and Chachaji and ambulance driver-cum-Man Friday Shriram ) stayed extra hours to tend that little wound that needed extra special care. We have also made a beautifully landscaped garden, and the 2nd gardening phase will be taken up around Mid may. Our most hardworking member Mrs. Irani has planted a composite vegetable garden of Spinach, tomatoes, baingan and carrots behind the hospital building so that some money on vegetables can be saved.
Needless to say all birthdays are celebrated and so did we at our hospital with a party, cake, scrumptious lunch ( thanks for it guys) and even crackers (Eco -friendly ones). As we believe in spending every penny that is donated for animal welfare only, the entire party was sponsored by our new Trustee- Mrs Mamta Girath and Life Member Mr.Amit Raut.
Our Honorary Surgeons Drs.V and J Chariar kept performing intricate operations fixing, joints, faces, limbs, silently. Our thanks to Thane Municipal Corporation Dog Pound, specially Dr. D Shirodkar and Dr. V Chariar, who spay neuter all our animals after their recovery before we release them back.
We are also very grateful to the individual dog pounds in some Municipal Corporations like in Mira Bhayander. The ABC teams here attend all our local calls which we find difficult to attend and provide first aid or even a couple of days of stay in their pound before transferring them to our hospital. “Nuisance ” dogs like the one in Vasai named” Insaan” which would have been otherwise killed by locals, were picked up by Vasai dog pound on specific request from us, and also put up by them for adoption at a Bhiwandi farm house.
Amongst notable cases I will highlight the case of Dukku, our Babe, a pig, who entered our hospitals and our hearts. Dukku was rescued by PAWS on a call forwarded by PETA and was treated by us for more than two months. His right eye was scooped out. There was no vision left in his left eye. The doctors had the extremely difficult task of ridding Dukku of more than 500 maggots which had taken up residence in his right eye hole. At the end of the treatment the doctors were able to restore Dukku’s vision in the left eye.
A horse which was left to die on the road by its owner after he became unable to give his services, was rescued by our ambulance driver Shriram and veterinary staff Prakash. It was evident from the marks on his body that in the end he had been brutally flogged by his owner, probably goading him to walk. There was severe internal hemorrhage and acute dehydration. He expired 4 days later but we have the satisfaction that he died with dignity with doctors around him, on a full stomach. We thank the passers by who saw the rescue and took the trouble of visiting the horse at the hospital with boxes of oats and bundles of hay. Small gestures that reinforce our faith on human kindness.
Those who visit our hospital have seen so many sad cases of injury and sickness but we have happy cases too. We had a whole load of gorgeous puppies and kittens (and still have some more) all of who have found wonderful, loving homes. We also have some Marbled Teal ducks rescued from miserable conditions by Debashish Majumdar, our Executive Secretary. 3 turtles were handed over to us by Shardul who came to know that it is illegal to keep them as pets and two Tragopans which were rescued by PAWS. The Teals are giving their best shot at being parents, occasionally presenting us with an egg or two. We are anxiously waiting to rehabilitate them, as well as to see little ducklings quacking around the premises.
Ending with a quote that moved us all this year :-
IN RELATION TO ANIMALS ALL PEOPLE ARE NAZIS, FOR THE ANIMALS IT IS AN ETERNAL TREBLINKA – Isaac Bashevis Singer ( 1904-1991)
2. WHO SHAAM KUCHH JEEB THI :- BY RAAG BHOPALI
There are few things in life that bring back the wonderful memories. Some like amma ki khichari, Dadi ‘s pickle , Mummy ke hath ka bana khana., The smell of wood burning in the kitchen. It would be impossible to get most of these , to invoke these, but the evening of 7th January, 2007,brought back these and many more.
The voices of Klub Nostalgia transported me back to the time when we were young, romance was the look in the eyes , the pain depicted in the voice of the singer. Yes the golden age of Hindi Films, when songs were not just songs but poetry set to melodious rhythm.
The programme started at 7 pm at Sivaswamy Auditorium, The Fine Arts Society, Chembur. It was a full house and many of us had to be seated on the aisles. The programme had ( list the songs) like : Chand si Mehbooba ho meri kab[Mukesh], Mahua[Rafi], Dum maro Dum etc .
Each melody set the audience foot tapping and clapping and thirsting for more. In the end, we had audience members up on the stage dancing to” Meri Bindu re Bindu “. The tone of the evening was set to our motive with a beautiful rendition of the ageless animal song ” Nafrat ki Duniya ko Chodkar Pyaar ke Duniya Mein” from Haathi Mere Saathi. We missed eminent people like the Thane Municipal Commissioner who could not come because of being a Returning Officer in the impending elections and The Commissioner of Police who had to be in a Road Safety Trial. But we had others like Asst. Conservator of Forests Shri Phale, Dy. Commissioner of Animal Husbandry Dr. A. Mahale, Col. J.C. Khanna from Bombay SPCA and Fizzah Shah from IDA respectively. In fact 10pm came and went , and very heavy hearted, one had to leave the auditorium but there was hope . There was hope that maybe next year there would be probably another recital and another trip into memory lane, when love was pure romance, the look in the eyes, the lyrics of the song was pure poetry and music was sheer magic, so what if one cannot get amma ke khichari, this was more and better.
3. NUMBER CRUNCHING 2006-07 by Dr. Suhas Rane ( Hon Secretary )
Associated to the very dreaded subject Maths, Number Crunching is nonetheless a very essential part of my Portfolio. Whether it is to inform about our Income and Expenditure at the AGM or the number of animals treated at the end of the Financial Year. So here is a composite list of the OPD, IPD and Ambulance patients that we treated during the last Financial Year:-
OPD Treatment Record
April :- 86
May :- 72
June :- 87
July :- 81
August :- 75
September :- 92
October :- 84
November :- 83
December :- 76
January :- 59
February :- 45
March :- 64
________________
Total :- 904
Grand Total :- 904
Ambulance Treatment Record
April :- 16
May :- 18
June :- 21
July :- 20
August:- 15
September :- 21
October :- 12
November :- 11
December :- 21
january :- 11
February :- 11
March :- 11
___________________
Total :- 188
Grand Total:- 188
IPD Treatment Record
April :- 38
May :- 48
June :- 46
July :- 41
August :- 50
September:- 40
October:- 46
November :- 45
December :- 52
January:- 54
February :- 54
March :- 52
___________________
Total:- 566
Grand total :- 566
Animals operated by our Surgeon Dr. V.Chariar
April 2006 March 2007 :- 87
Total animals treated by Thane SPCA between April 2006 March 2007:- 1745
Animals adopted :- 22 dogs, 2 cats, 1 donkey
Street Animals Vaccinated:- Apart from the 551 dogs vaccinated before release from the hospital after treatment, 348 Street Dogs and 45 Working Donkeys were vaccinated during this year.
Total animals Treated since inception :-
August 2002 March 2003 222
April 2003 March 2004 639
April 2004 March 2005 280
April 2005 March 2006 1312
April 2006 April 2007 – 1745
Total 4198
Average animals treated per month :- 76 Euthanised :- 6
4. WISHLIST ( by AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY, RESIDENT TEALS )
We have spent a wonderful comfortable quarter inside our large cage ever since we were rescued from being displayed to public inside a shopping mall. However a cage is a cage and we personally would like to shift base to a farm house where we can have a larger pond at our disposal, if you please. We have recently made friends with 2 very cackling Tragopans, and though we are not in very good terms with them, we wish they could find a separate home too.
Monsoon is at hand and we need to build a roof to cover our distemper ward. Our friends in there are always in severe pain and they can do without the lashing of rain on them. We will need approximately Rs.11,000/- for the roofing.
Also our ambulance needs a pathway to be parked on. Our driver Shriram will find it very difficult to manouever the ambulance if slush fills the parking space. We strongly suggest 500 sq.ft of paver blocks for this purpose. For this we will need to raise Rs.24,000/ – including labour and material. Later after the monsoon we may also be left open on the pathway to bask in the sun.
Steel bowls for feeding our friends, and even plastic trays for feeding us, are always welcome, since we tend to destroy them with our teeth and beaks at regular intervals. The ambulance needs half a dozen dog chains, and our vets need a steady flow of medicines ( thankfully they are not meant for us ).The list of medicines is attached separately.
Please contact Debashish Majumdar on 9321212344 if you want information about what materials / medicines / money we need donated. We prefer crossed cheque payments in the name of Thane SPCA or Thane Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Please address the envelopes to Thane SPCA, 305 Gangotri, B Wing, Jangid Complex, Mira Road East, Thane 401107. We offer 80G Tax Exemption benefits.
Lastly we need you to call up our veterinary staff and ward boys from time to time, to tell them what a wonderful job they are doing of taking care of us. We haven’t missed a single meal, even during the floods when everyone else stayed home. Our pond has had clean water every day even if it meant that there was no water supply and they had to carry the water from a bore well far away.
Call our Hospital on : 32612344
Call for official work on :- 93222 71966
Email us at :- thanespca@hotmail.com
Better still, make a visit to the hospital. It makes us very happy to meet you.
5. APPEAL by DEBASHISH MAJUMDAR ( EXECUTIVE SECRETARY )
The Thane SPCA is often telephoned by distressed members of the public requesting them to clear stray dogs and feral cats from their vicinity. The callers are tired of the mess, disturbance or inconvenience that they feel the animals are creating and expect us to attend the problem.
We would like to help. However, the role of TSPCA is to care for abused, injured and sick-animals. We have over 2000 animals yearly to deal with which includes veterinary treatment, quarantine, vaccination, sterilization, re-homing via our adoption service and rare euthanasia.
The TSPCA will collect any animal which is hurt, or rescue any animal in distress, but we lack the additional resources or space to clear animals away for members of the public who are being inconvenienced.
The SPCA would like to advise members of the public that if they are disturbed by animals ,they could do any of the following:
Ø Discuss the problem with the kind folk who are feeding the strays and arrive at an amicable solution for both parties.
Ø Contact TSPCA at 9322271966 or 9869376238 during office hours to arrange for free sterilization. Once sterilized, the animals will make less noise and will be less excitable, thus causing less disturbance.
Ø Try to find the dogs /cats a good home where it will be safe and cared for.
Ø Ensure that all rubbish is thrown away in the proper manner so that strays will not be enticed to rummage through it for food, thus not coming near the offended party. TSPCA gives advice by telephone and is happy to counsel anyone as to how to live in harmony with the animals around them. Telephone us at 9322271966 any time between 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday or on 9321212344 between 6PM and 9 PM for any consultation.
OUR REQUEST TO ANIMAL LOVERS:-
* Please be a responsible animal guardian.
* Sterilise and vaccinate your local strays.
* Feed them early morning or late night to avoid causing
disturbances to passers by.
* Do not throw chicken claws, chicken heads, mutton paya or wh whole fish on the streets for feeding the animals.
* Use plastic bowls whenever possible, to feed your strays.
* Listen to the complaints of local people, then explain to them about animal welfare.Fighting will never lead us anywhere.
TRY OUT ALL THESE AND SEE YOUR ANIMAL UNFRIENDLY NEIGHBOURHOOD
TURN INTO A FRIENDLY ONE.
Email – thanespca@hotmail.com