BURIED ALIVE

I am Dr. Vikram Dayal. For years and years, decades altogether -- I've seen my sister, resident in Pune, Maharashtra, India give her all - resources and time - to the welfare of street mutts. Constantly going out of pocket to keep it going. It is now my wish to step in and draw funds to assist her continuing efforts.

India...magnificent India, land of millions of contradictions. This is reflected so accurately in the life of street animals. As if the harsh polarities in weather: oppressive heat, humidity, lashing rains, and sometimes bitter cold teamed with no food/ water guaranteed were not enough.... another dimension of mindless and intense human cruelty is imposed on hapless street animals.

Dog, universally said to be man's best friend is largely treated as a fiend by the average man on the street here. They are marked with lit cigarette butts, stoned, bludgeoned to death with sticks and heavy objects, firecrackers tied to their tails, dragged from the back of speeding motorbikes & casually run over among other unspeakable sexual offenses. We also have headless brutal humans burying them alive just to get rid of them.

The penalty for such an offence, if ever pursued is a mere ₹50 (approx 35 cents).

As a pastime, children are encouraged to be nasty to dogs that are already subject to such wretchedness. Once, trying to find a missing dog, I went into the shanties....where on enquiring, I got this shocking answer from the children (pre-teens): " We punish them by hanging with a rope ". I could not stand there a second longer.

Thankfully, there are a scant few relief organizations who, though greatly overburdened, care for injured street animals and maybe individuals like me who take on soothing the situation, acting against towering odds.

Living in Pune, a prominent city in western India, I have been

actively exercising myself in caring for what I lovingly call StreetMutts for close to 4 decades.

There even was a time some 6 years ago, pained by the utter roughness & desolation faced by the hapless StreetMutts, I had 13 of them, all of varying ages, at different intervals brought into my home! Unmanageable, many would have said. But, I kept it going.

Today I house 5...several of the older ones have passed on.

During COVID especially, I would go into the neighborhood with a bucket of home-cooked food of chicken and rice with pulses to feed around 15 - 20 dogs who I knew had not even scraps to pick, since our townships became deserted. This was their one solid meal of the day. Now that " normalcy ' has been restored and food businesses are operational, I still go out to feed a handful of my regulars on the street.

For years, I have personally focused on having them neutered to reduce numbers. There are several gut-wrenching stories I have dealing with this neutering project, bundling them into hired vehicles and proceeding to surgeries!

Caring also includes attending to their medical needs, vaccinating regularly, and rushing them to competent clinics which never spare a thought in making any reduction in their charges.

For example, a blood test is around ₹ 4000 ( $ 50 ) the most basic cost added to treatments that can send expenses through the roof.

I'm frequently going out of pocket to keep it all going and hence my appeal to you to join forces in making contributions such that the StreetMutts stay helped. My sincere gratitude to each of you who spare a thought and help out.

I now present a story with a particularly happy ending. Read on.....

This summer, I found myself responding to a case where 8 fledgling, motherless pups were buried alive in a clearing in a densely populated area.

A good-hearted passerby didn't ignore the sounds & yelps from under the mud heaps. Fortunately, hours and hours later, those scraggly pups were unearthed but left to their devices feeding on undergrowth, twigs & pools of dirt water right there.

Another person left 4 of the surviving pups in an abandoned bungalow, where now and again, dry food was provided to them.

That's when I entered the scene to ensure they stayed fully nourished, and so I started appearing for some 40 days with my food bucket. I live 5 km away from this bungalow.

After their health status improved markedly, I adopted one female, to add to my existing 4 doggies at home. And while they have yet to integrate, we are all blissful.

Pup Tatum is a looker! So is her kin...They have been fully vaccinated and two males ( Skipper & Zippy ) placed on a farm. Dinkum is retained by the bungalow and has an older, unrelated playmate Milo.

-Vani Dayal ( aged 63, presently a tutor in the English Language )