Animal Rahat Update

May - July 2008

Animal Rahat ("rahat" means relief) is a nonprofit animal welfare organization that PETA has helped to establish and is now helping to expand. Most working animals in India belong to people who cannot afford to provide even a minimal standard of care for animals and who haven't been taught how to do so. Bullocks, buffaloes, horses, camels, and donkeys suffer from poor nutrition (sometimes they eat only weeds!) as well as dehydration, untreated sores, overloading, injuries, and even beatings from drivers who are determined to keep them going. Two of their most common problems are lameness and depression. These debilitated and despairing animals lose the will to carry on as a direct result of their poor diet and the grueling physical demands made of them.

Staffed by a team of veterinarians and their assistants, Animal Rahat offers vital relief to these animals in the form of veterinary care and financial assistance to the animals' owners, who often don't have enough money to meet the animals' basic nutritional requirements. Animal Rahat provides the owners with funds to obtain medicine to treat animals' illnesses or injuries or for other needs, such as repairing broken harnesses.

Rahat also teaches people about basic animal welfare, beginning with fundamental, practical measures. For example, Rahat stresses the importance of providing real fodder rather than contaminated scrub and the need to provide adequate water to animals who are working in the heat, in order to prevent dehydration and keep the animals from collapsing. Carts full of passengers or commodities such as bricks can weigh thousands of pounds, so it is crucial to teach people to reduce and balance the loads that animals are forced to pull along rutted tracks on unpaved roads.

Founded in 2003 with just one treatment station, the program now has 49 treatment stations—26 in Solapur and 23 in Sangli (two districts in Maharashtra, which is one of the largest and most populous states in India). Animal Rahat started with just two employees and has now grown to include a staff of six.

At first, Rahat veterinarians could only treat between 10 and 15 animals per day, but now the average number of animals treated daily is 60!

In this report, we list a few of the many achievements that Animal Rahat has made from May through July of 2008.

The tremendous heat in early June prompted hundreds of owners to seek aid for their severely stressed animals. The Rahat team in Solapur treated almost 900 animals in the first 11 days of June alone. In total, more than 2,100 animals were treated in Solapur and Sangli in the month of July.

In addition to working along the daily routes between villages to cover all the treatment stations, Rahat holds tetanus vaccination camps, where people can get their animals vaccinated free of charge. Attendance was wonderful this quarter—all the horses in the target treatment area (49 at the Solapur camp and 69 at the Sangli camp) were inoculated. These camps have made a huge difference in reducing the incidence of tetanus in the area.

Another innovative service that Animal Rahat provides is paid rest days. Many people are living at a subsistence level that does not allow them to sacrifice the income from even one day's work in order to give their animals a day of rest. Therefore, when the Rahat staff encounters an animal who is so ill or injured that rest is imperative for recovery, they provide the owner with enough pay to cover the income lost from the prescribed rest days.

This quarter, Animal Rahat was able to provide paid rest days to the owners of six injured bullocks so that the animals had a chance to recover. At the Kasegaon treatment center, the vets were pleased that so many owners showed an interest in Rahat's paid rest program. An owner named Mr. Hede had brought in his bullock to be treated for a painful swelling over the fetlock joint, which had rendered the animal lame. The Rahat vets treated the injury, advised Mr. Hede on how to provide physiotherapy, told him to come back for follow-up treatment, and paid him to rest the bullock in the interim. Mr. Hede greatly appreciated the service, and a crowd of other owners who had gathered around were gratified to learn that they would now have a way to allow their animals to rest and recover from injuries without sacrificing sorely needed income.

The paid-rest program often has a profound teaching effect on the owners as well. At the Kumbari Naka center, an owner named Mr. Yamade brought his bullock in to be treated for a huge, painful swelling on the animal's neck. It turned out that Mr. Yamade had been using the bullock to carry a heavy load of iron rods, and the animal had stumbled into a large pit in the road and become injured. The veterinarians said that when they told Mr. Yamade to rest the animal for four days and gave him four days' pay, it was as if the scales fell from the owner's eyes. He immediately expressed regret for having overworked the bullock and readily agreed to give him time to rest and heal.

In fact, some owners are so grateful for the services provided by Rahat that they refuse to accept the pay. Last month, an owner at the Dongaon village center was advised to rest his bullock for three days, and he agreed to do so without taking the money—although he could ill afford the loss!

Helping to Retire Working Animals
A very important aspect of Animal Rahat is its animal-retirement program. When they become too old or ill to work, long-suffering cart animals are often sold for slaughter—which is generally performed without stunning and following an unbearably long and hellish journey. As an alternative, the Rahat staff encourages owners to allow animals to continue living with their families until they die, so that their remaining years can be free from work, pain, and the terror of the slaughterhouse.

To lessen the expenses incurred by owners who choose not to send their animals to slaughter, Animal Rahat pays for part of the expense of feeding the retired animals. There are currently six retired bullocks and one retired horse who are living with their families thanks to Rahat.

If owners don't have enough money to care for their animals after they become too old to work, Rahat encourages owners to turn their animals over to Rahat instead of selling them for slaughter. Rahat had been leasing land for a temporary retirement area, but in 2007, it purchased a 4-acre plot of land for a permanent facility. It has since been working with a consultant to design and construct the new facility.

Three bullocks now live at Rahat's new retirement facility, where they are left free to roam all day long. The only time they are confined to their sheds is at night; when the caretaker arrives in the evening, all three animals stroll to the sheds to bed down for the night.

Raja, a resident of the Animal Rahat retirement center, relaxes and enjoys a visit from PETA Asia-Pacific Director Jason Baker.

During the day, the animals enjoy grazing on the grass, drinking from the water bowls around the grounds, enjoying the shade of the trees, and nibbling on bits of food that are scattered all over the property to encourage them to exercise their aging limbs. Although the rainy season is presenting a challenge to the Rahat team, the retired bullocks love it—grass is sprouting all over their fields, and they are eagerly taking advantage of this new "all you can eat" buffet.

When Rajat bought its new retirement facility, four donkeys and four horses (one of whom is pictured above) who were staying at the former site were transferred to a refuge that cooperates with Rahat. The refuge is located in the Nilgiris (also known as the Blue Mountains), where the soil is much better for equines, so all horses and donkeys who become part of Rahat's retirement program in the future will be sent there.

How gratifying it is to be able to provide rest for these retired animals and to help alleviate the suffering of the thousands who are still working. Animal Rahat sponsors make this program possible. Thank you!