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?