Mayur Hassija’s family does not quite fathom his compassion for animals, especially dogs. Last month he got 14 indie dogs adopted, his highest in a month so far. “But when I return home with stray dogs in my arms, my parents and brother do not criticise me. Rather, they sometimes sponsor my activities,” says the 35-year-old, who has taken up a job with Ola and Rapido to fund his growing animal welfare activities.
He picks up a stray or injured dog almost every second day, brings it home for a wash and feed, takes it to the vet for treatment, vaccination, neutering or spaying before releasing it back on the streets or finding it a home. Two years ago, when he picked up two female pups from a garbage dump, he did not have the heart to send them away; now his home is theirs.
Recently, when he received a call about three stray cattle roaming with deep skin burns, Mayur’s parents realised their son’s work was getting recognised across the city to report animal abuse of various kinds. He has also rescued snakes in the past.
For Mayur that day ended after seven long hours, only after he had succeeded in getting a team from the Corporaton and an NGO called Urvanam in Thirunagar, to secure the animals; two Government veterinary doctors to attend to their injuries, reporting to the matter to the local police station and contacting gaushalas to find the injured and abandoned animals a safe place.
Yet one of the cows ran away and Mayur is trying to get a team of private catchers to get the stray animal to the Government Polyclinic, Tallakulam. A gaushala in Singamuneri in Sivagana district may take the rescued cows post-treatment, he says.
“But disappointments are plenty for an individual stray animal worker like me,” he says, because organisations like the Blue Cross, Society for Prevention of Cruelty Against Animals do not have an address in Madurai yet and people have little awareness of animal protection.
“There are a few local NGOs and individual stray dog rescuers whom I wish to bring together under one platform to strengthen the concerted efforts of animal lovers in the city,” he says, and adds there are alsomany local residents who semi-own stray dogs and feedthem reularly.
Madurai has 45,000 stray dogs (as per WHO guesstimates of 3,000 stray dogs for every 100,000 human population). Finding a home for the Indian strays — especially the females — is not easy, says Mayur. Yet, during the pandemic, a lot of economically weaker people such as the domestic help, night watchmen, security guards, laundry and ironing help called him and adopted the desi dogs. “I am relieved that the helpless animals are under care now,” he says.
Drawn into community services as a teenager, Mayur volunteered in free medical camps, tuitions for the poor children and disaster management programmes, among other activities in villages around Madurai. Little did he know then that people could be cruel to animals, till he saw a local tailor hitting a stray dog to death with a brick. Mayur went sleepless that night.
Another time he found a community dog, cared for by neighbours in his street, lying unattended, its head half eaten by maggots. The turning point came in 2015 when a mother dog, who came to Mayur’s house for food, was picked up by the Corporation truck following a complaint from a resident about her aggressive nature. She had actually being protective about her litter of seven pups.
“I could not bear the sight of her when she was separated from the barely 10 days old pups. I brought all the pups home, fed them and got them vaccinated and yet all of them died in succession. Later, the vet told me mother’s milk is essential for 45 days for puppies,” he recalls.
That is when Mayur started learning how and where to get help for stray dogs. He was pained at how outdated The Prevention of Cruelty Act (1960) is, under which people can get away with a fine of ₹50, and the lack of awareness of animal rights and laws like the Animal Birth Control Rules 2001, that prevents culling of animals and does not allow picking up pregnant or nursing mother dogs.
Mayur points out that police stations are mandated to take cognisance of violation of animal rights but often refuse to register complaints from individual rescue workers. There is a complete lack of awareness about animals who are also entitled to five freedoms (like the fundamental rights of humans) under the Act. These include freedom from hunger and thirst, pain and discomfort, fear and distress, injury or disease.
Mayur says the penalty for being cruel to animals needs to be hiked from the meagre Rs.5o to deter people. He has lost count of how many stray dogs he has brought home in the last three years and nursed them back to health. “Education is the key to reduce human-dog conflict and give a better life to man's best friend,” he says.
