It has been a little over two-and-a-half months since many parts of the city were inundated following heavy rains, but animal welfare centres are still dealing with its aftermath.
These centres, flooded with rescue calls, are running beyond capacity and facing severe a resource crunch. Some animal welfare organisations have temporarily brought down the number of rescues.
“The number of calls we usually receive increases during the rains. This meant we had to take care of more dogs at the centres. While we have capacity for 40 or 50 animals, we were forced to take in 80 at one centre,” said an official at Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), a non-profit that has an in-house clinic. It is struggling to accommodate these dogs and get them adopted, before taking in new animals.
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The CUPA ‘Second Chance’ adoption clinic in Madiwala had to be temporarily shut following the downpour. Besides the logistical problems this caused, the shelter’s regular operations were also hit. “The clinic saw extensive damage. Most of the dogs are still in boarding at other places. We have a new centre coming up at Sarjapur and all the dogs will be shifted there. The 2-acre facility can accommodate more dogs that are routinely found and reported abandoned. Also, people can volunteer to care for them,” Shilpa M. from CUPA, said.
The rains meant NGOs had to deal with more accident cases. “The showers led to congestion and traffic in urban areas, which resulted in more hit-and-runs involving dogs,” said a volunteer with Krupa, an animal shelter that also rehabilitates rescues. “All our shelters have exceeded capacity,” she added.
The ambulance service of Precious Paws, another shelter, has been temporarily stopped and will restart after December. “We cannot take in more animals,” said Debadrita, the founder. “Feeding and raising these dogs requires time, space, and money. We have a 10,000 sq feet no-cage shelter, and we can shelter only around 70 animals. But, the number we took in after the rains is more,” she said.
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The release of rescued animals has also been a problem. “Animals get stressed in captivity. But as many animals that we rescued were injured, they had to spend more time in captivity. This meant we had lesser space for the newly rescued,” said Samhita, from People for Animals. “We are still recovering from the effects of heavy rains. We have been requesting an informer to call other shelters such as Avian and Reptile Rehabilitation Centre or Wildlife Rescue And Rehabilitation Centre to accommodate animals,” she added.