Animal Hospital planned

by Bombay vet Sangita Vengsarkar and actor Raveena Tandon. There will also be an animal rehabilitation centre:

“The hospital will have state-of-the-art medical facilities and a clean, healthy environment for domestic animals coming there to recuperate,” said Raveena, who has already applied for a license for the two institutions.

A laudable plan. I hope it materialises soon.

Overcrowding

at the Dhaka Zoo.

Dolphin Sanctuary

... in the Ganges. Maybe.

Greenpeace and the Whales

Maybe you can't hear the songs of the whales in the hustle and bustle of everyday life. But, in the oceans, they reverberate. Only, the orchestra gets a little weaker every day.

They say these `submarine songs' last for hours, and can be heard from hundreds of kilometres away. In Ulsan, in Korea, the whales' songs rang through the city centre, as more than 50,000 people marched in, to stand up for the world's biggest mammals.

Read about the anti-whaling campaign in India.

Oh no.

Oh no. I hope they don't decide to euthanise our stray dogs. our stray dogs are often befriended by our street people. they need to be sterilised, and they are being sterilised through the animal welfare ngos. killing is not the answer.

Joint Tiger Census from October

Indian wildlife authorities have decided to carry out a census of tigers simultaneously in all forests across the country from October. The census will be spread out over a period of four months.

Animal Abuse

There's been some discussion, after our posts on PETA. I'd like to respond in phases, because several issues were raised. First I'd like to point to this PETA release about an animal hoarder:

McVay faces 246 charges stemming from authorities’ reported June 23 discovery of as many as 123 gravely ill cats—whom she evidently claimed to have "rescued"—along with the remains of 13 others, including one decomposing carcass under a couch, inside her filthy home, which reportedly reeked of ammonia. News sources state that the survivors—at least 18 of whom have since been euthanized—suffered ailments including flea infestation, missing hair, dental problems, and upper respiratory infections. An Idaho Humane Society representative told news sources that virtually every surface inside the house was covered in cat feces and urine

This is of course an extreme case. But even in the matter of the 'ownership' ('ownership'?) of pets, there are innumerable cases of abuse and neglect. One morning last week I saw two Labradors being walked on the road. They were trying to sniff at something under a plant. Their handler pulled at their leashes roughly, so roughly that the dogs almost choked, and walked off, dragging the dogs behind him.

At Jeev Raksha, too, I saw a beautiful dog that had been abandoned there by his 'owners' after he got maggots all over, on his flanks and his nose. Pet ownership isn't always a matter of cuddly, feel-good, playing-with-the-kiddies sentiments. Often the most disheartening abuse of animal rights happens with pets.

What can be done? More later.