Caring for street animals often means going beyond food and medicine. Yesterday, someond called us about a sick cow, but unfortunately we found that she was infected with rabies, which is always fatal. After she passed away this morning, we arrived on the scene to assist with safe transportation of her body for burial.
Compassion for All Life
Compassion for all life... in this, Baba is exemplary. When this dog who lives in the street near his ashram was stricken with a bad skin condition, he made sure to call us and helped facilitate his treatment.
The people who call us when they see a sick animal are heroes!
Taking Responsibility
When you domesticate an animal, you are responsible for that animal. You cannot drink an animal’s milk on one hand and throw them out like garbage on the other.
These are not gazelles that will leap away free into the wild. Cows are domestic and if you throw them out, they will just hover at your doorstep eating filth from the road.
We all know this. Now what are we going to do about it?
Gopi Comes Home
In March of 2020, Braj Animal Care’s Vishakha Ramos took seven puppies to the animal hospital in a nearby city. The puppies were all suffering from parvo, a deadly disease, and the treatment took many hours. The hospital was technically closed when Vishakha finally took off her medical gloves and went to wash her hands.
In order to reach the hand wash area, she had to cross a huge, warehouse-like room where the large animals are usually treated. It was there that Vishakha found a single calf standing by herself. She looked so lost and out of place, that Vishakha’s immediate impulse was to go and comfort her. She crouched down, placing her forehead on the calf’s forehead, and petted the calf for some time before returning to the puppies, whose treatment was still going on.
After a while, Vishakha was approached by one of the hospital’s resident doctors. To her surprise, the doctor asked Vishakha if she could take a calf home with her! It was the same calf Vishakha had seen earlier. Someone had beaten mercilessly in the leg with a stick, fracturing her leg. Thereafter, her owner brought her to the hospital, but abandoned her when he realised the extent of her injuries. Once a cast was applied to the broken leg, the calf wandered the hospital grounds alone for three days.
Vishakha had no doubt that she had to take the calf, who was later named Gopi, back to Vrindavan. The problem was, she had no vehicle with which to transport Gopi. At present, Braj Animal Care doesn’t have an ambulance, and the car they rented that day was not only small, but already quite packed with seven puppies, two volunteers, the driver and Vishakha herself. Nevertheless, Vishakha offered to hold Gopi in her lap in the passenger seat of the car, to get her home as soon as possible! With no other alternative, two other doctors lifted Gopi and placed her Vishakha’s arms, and they all went home to Vrindavan.
That evening, Braj Animal Care arranged for Gopi to be housed in a local cow shelter where she is being looked after extremely well. We hear that she likes to wander around and explore her new home, which will now be her permanent place of residence.
We are delighted that Gopi is happy and safe, however there are so many other animals out there that need our help. In this case, Vishakha was lucky that Gopi remained calm. Animals do not always have this kind of docile nature, and obviously, carrying calves in one’s lap is not the recommended mode of transportation! We are desperately in need of an ambulance to help our team and our animal friends get around safely.
A Silent Victim of the COVID-19 Lockdown
As the world faces unprecedented challenges amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, we at Braj Animal Care continue serving the animals of Braj. We are motivated by the fact that the obstacles we face pale in comparison to the suffering the animals are going through during this time.
On the first day of the national lockdown in India, Briju, a member of our team, found a small black puppy near his home. The puppy, who we named Jet, had been run over by a motor vehicle. His wounds were so severe that bone and tendons of his leg were exposed, and he had a deep wound in the shape of a tyre mark on his belly.
Jet needed to go to the veterinary hospital immediately, but it was closed due to the lockdown. Further, despite having multiple veternarians who regularly work with us, none were able to come out of their homes to treat him. Desperate to keep Jet alive, Briju reached out to the vet who treats his family’s cows. Although he provided Briju with some advice, Briju had no choice but to treat Jet himself. Unable to find an open shop from which he could buy supplies, Briju improvised by creating makeshift gloves from plastic bags and tended to Jet by washing and dressing his wounds.
As the lockdown continues indefinitely, Jet remains in our care and we are continuing to tend to his substantial wound. As we are unable to get him an x-ray or even an examination by a veterinarian specialising in dogs, we don’t know the true extent of his injuries, or whether he is likely to survive. Until the time when things return to normal, we can only care for him as best we can and administer medication to keep his pain as low as possible.
We don’t know how a hit and run incident like this could have happened in a time when everyone was supposed to be inside. But if something awful like this happened at a time when vehicular traffic was banned, can you imagine the danger our animals face on a normal day?
Seven Times a Broken Heart
In early March 2020, Braj Animal Care received a call from a concerned citizen who said one of the puppies who lived in the alleyway outside his house was suffering from parvo. Parvo is a disease that can affect dogs of any age but it is particularly prevalent in puppies who have just stopped drinking their mothers’ milk. This is because the milk that comes from their mothers contains antibodies that protect puppies from contracting parvo so once they start weaning, unvaccinated puppies are very susceptible to this disease.
Braj Animal Care responded to the call but when they got there, they discovered that there were actually seven puppies, all suffering from parvo. It’s not often that puppies living on the street survive parvo, and calculating that their treatment would require all our manpower and more resources than we had, our team contemplated whether or not they should pursue medical aid for the puppies. But somehow they found themselves unable to say no.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that each of the seven puppies were in various stages of death and treating them on the street would be extremely challenging. We took them to the veterinary college in the nearby city, where we were advised that the puppies would each need daily treatment via IV. Ideally, the puppies should have the drips twice a day, but the veterinary college simply didn’t have enough staff present to do this for all seven puppies. Thus, we compromised by having them receive drips once a day instead. Due to there being so many puppies, the treatment took 3-4 hours each day, during which our volunteers stayed by their side.
When we initially took the puppies to the medical hospital, we used a small rental car to transport them in. Due to their sickness, the puppies were vomiting a lot and having profuse loose motions. The smell in the car was truly awful, although we know the journey must have been far worse for them than it was for us. Luckily, after the first day, staff from the veterinary college agreed to make the trip daily to treat the puppies in Vrindavan.
Still, the problem we faced was that, as we don’t have a permanent shelter in which to treat our animals, we were using an empty lot that was far from ideal and only a temporary solution. Furthermore, when we were able to locate the owner of the lot and offer to rent it as a semi-permanent clinic space, the owner did not agree and even took steps to remove us from the area. Although the puppies continued to receive their IV treatment, one by one they started to die.
As the number of remaining puppies became fewer, staff from the veterinary college were able to treat them twice a day as prescribed. In the end, only one puppy managed to recover from parvo, but unfortunately, with the enclosure door removed by the owner of the empty lot, he was attacked by a territorial female dog and he too lost his life.
The story of the seven puppies with parvo really highlights our lack of resources, especially a shelter. We direly need a shelter in which to treat our animals, an ambulance to properly transport them, and veterinary staff of our own.
Our Littlest Patient
Here at Braj Animal Care, we aim to improve the lives of all animals, no matter what their size, condition or perceived value may be. One day in the middle of a Vrindavan winter, we received a call from someone who told us that they had found a rat with a broken leg and asked if we could help.
Because we had never had such a small patient before, we didn’t have any kind of specialised equipment for such a challenge. The volunteer, Vishakha, who received the call improvised by cutting up a bandage into tiny strips and collecting some matchsticks that might possibly be used as a splint. However, when Vishakha got to the patient, she discovered that he wasn’t a rat at all but a baby mouse, whom we named Bubbles.
Bubbles’s leg was indeed injured; luckily though it wasn’t bad enough to warrant a splint or even a bandage. The main danger that Bubbles faced was the risk of hypothermia and Vishakha could see that he was very weak. Baby mice like Bubbles rely heavily on the body heat of their mothers to stay warm, and it looked like Bubbles was completely alone.
Vishakha swaddled Bubbles in pieces of cloth and placed him in a basket before taking him back to her home, where she placed him near the space heater. Bubbles enjoyed being fed crumbs and water droplets through a tiny dropper, and soon he became stronger and healthier. After about ten days, Bubbles had grown to the size of an adult mouse and was ready to go back into the wild. At Braj Animal Care, it is our intention to return our animal friends to the best possible environments for them, so we found a field on the outskirts of Vrindavan and bid farewell to our littlest patient.
Sheru's Rabies Shot
At over ten years of age, Sheru is one of Braj Animal Care’s oldest friends. Due to the harshness of life on India’s streets, the average stray only lives for two to three years. This makes Sheru a true senior member of the community! Sheru lives in the Radharaman Temple compound in Vrindavan, as have several generations of his family. When Sheru’s mother, Jimmy, was attacked by another dog and lost her life, Sheru was left all alone. However, the people who frequent the temple love him very much and keep an eye on him.
However, over all those years, Sheru had never had a rabies vaccination. This posed a risk not only to Sheru but also to the templegoers and nearby residents, as humans can contract rabies from being bitten by infected animals. The number of rabies deaths in India is disproportionately large compared to the rest of the world. The World Health organisation estimates that at least 18,000-20,000 people in India die of rabies every year, and most of them are children under the age of fifteen. Due to the large number of unvaccinated street animals across the country, India accounts for at least one third of total rabies deaths worldwide each year.
Trusting as he is, Sheru remained calm during the vaccination process – he didn’t struggle or even flinch! Sheru’s friend Fluffy also got his rabies shot that day, and he, too was a good patient. Incredibly, each rabies vaccination only cost about two US dollars. Now all Sheru and Fluffy will need is their yearly booster shot!
Hit By a Car and Left to Die
“Hi! I’m Tinsel! I was born on the side of a road in Vrindavan. As I was the largest of all my brothers and sisters, Mom thought I had a good chance of surviving on the street. But one day, one of those big things with wheels ran over my leg.
“The person who was driving didn't stop, and I cried for two days until someone finally found me. Suddenly, many people were around me, saying that I might die. They tried to help, but finally Braj Animal Care found a warm place for me where I could recover safely.
“My friends Achyut Priya and Vishakha took me to get an x-ray in Mathura, and I got a big cast on my leg. It's been five weeks and, even though my leg is healing well, the doctor says I have to wear the cast for at least one more week.
“I don't like wearing the cast, but I know it’s good for me, so I don't try too hard to tear it off with my teeth! I am so thankful that Braj Animal Care is going to take care of me for my whole life.”
Healing Sparkle's Wounds
Sparkle was one of the most seriously injured members of the Braj Animal Care family. She was found on the roadside by a member of our team, Vishakha, who immediately called our vet for advice. Sparkle had a huge, gaping wound on her shoulder, the nature of which was deep enough that you could see her muscles. The wound had also become badly infected and without intervention, Sparkle had little chance of surviving.
Following specialist advice, we utilised a disinfectant spray that is commonly used to treat animals with this type of wound. Unfortunately, Sparkle was scared of the sound and hated being sprayed. We used it on her as much as we could but it was really difficult to keep her calm and still. We did, however, manage to give her antibiotics and feed her everyday.
Sparkle’s recovery took quite some time and we persevered in finding and treating her on a daily basis, because we believe in leaving no animal behind. After several weeks, and without any surgical intervention or stitches, the tissues in Sparkle’s wound had regenerated and her wound healed completely. It was amazing to see how well Sparkle’s wound healed with only conservative treatment. As soon as she was better, we arranged for Sparkle to have her rabies vaccination so that she could continue to thrive.
The Braj Animal Care team see Sparkle on a regular basis and we still give her lots of love. She loves to jump and play; in fact one of her favourite pastimes is chasing Vishakha’s motorbike. Our clever little Sparkle!
Fluffy’s Miraculous Recovery
Fluffy is a street dog who lives on the verandah of the Shri Radharaman Temple in Vrindavan. He spends his days begging for food and love from those who live in the area and those who visit the temple.
This past summer, Fluffy contracted a terrible skin disease called mange. Mange is a very painful condition caused by small parasites that burrow down inside the skin. The intense itching caused Fluffy to scratch off most of his fur and large patches of his skin. The resulting wounds became severely infected and Fluffy almost died.
Luckily, Braj Animal Care was there to help. Under a veterinarian’s guidance, the team gave Fluffy antibiotics and special pills that kill parasites. We also applied betadine, a type of antiseptic liquid, on Fluffy’s skin. We also made sure Fluffy had sufficient food to eat every day.
Within a couple of months, Fluffy was healthier and stronger than ever. We are so thankful to be able to help dogs like Fluffy.
Karuna Maiyya Gets a New Lease on Life
Meet Karuna Maiya - one of our beloved street dogs in Vrindavan.
Earlier this year, Karuna Maiya’s puppies were run over by an auto rickshaw in Vrindavan’s Loi Bazaar. The loss of her children was devastating for her, and she simply gave up on life. She was laying on the ground waiting to die when Ocean of Devotion’s team found her.
All her bones were sticking out and she had a large wound in her chest, apparently from an attack by another dog. We knew we had to feed her every day and give her medicine to help her survive. But more than that, she needed to know that she was not alone in this world. And so, we sat with her every day caressing her and talking to her.
She was so weak that we had to tear flatbreads into tiny pieces and feed them to her bite by bite. Now her wounds have healed and she is much more energetic. We are delighted to report that she can be seen walking confidently around the marketplace, and she can now eat by herself.
