Animal Rahat Update

July-September 2007

Animal Rahat ("rahat" means relief) is a nonprofit organization, and PETA is helping Animal Rahat to expand its services. Most working animals in India belong to people who cannot afford to provide even a minimal standard of care for animals and who have not 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. The two biggest problems are lameness and depression: Debilitated and despairing animals lose the will to carry on, eat very little of the small amount of food they are given, and suffer beatings from drivers who are determined to keep them going.

Staffed by a team of well-trained veterinarians and their assistants, Animal Rahat offers vital relief to these animals. The program helps animals' owners, who often don't have enough money to meet animals' basic nutritional requirements. Animal Rahat often pays owners a few rupees so that they can repair a broken harness or get medicine to treat animals' serious illnesses or injuries.

Rahat also teaches people about basic animal welfare, including fundamental, practical measures—for example, the importance of providing real fodder rather than contaminated scrub and giving animals working in the heat enough water so that they won't collapse. 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.

After being founded in 2003 and starting with just one treatment station, the program now has 50 treatment stations—29 in Solapur and 21 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 grown to include a staff of eight. The Rahat veterinarians started out treating between 10 and 15 animals per day, and now the average number of animals treated daily is almost 40!

The bus shown above (which was donated by the Reserve Bank of India) has been revamped with the Rahat logo in order to raise awareness of the program wherever it goes. It enables the staff to transport medicine and equipment, and it serves as a "moving billboard," reminding all cart drivers to care for their animals.

Other wonderful signs of growth this quarter include the establishment of a new treatment center in Bhisur Village and the building of a travis there. (A travis is a metal stall that holds a bullock comfortably upright for treatment; the animal would otherwise have to be cast to the ground, which can cause stress and bruising.)

In addition to working along the daily routes between villages to cover all the treatment stations, Rahat has also established a tetanus vaccination "camp," where people can get their animals vaccinated for free.

In this report, we list a few of the many achievements that Animal Rahat has made from July to September 2007.

A recent analysis of the types and frequency of ailments presented at all the Rahat centers showed that yoke gall and cracks on the neck were the least frequent of the 12 most common ailments. This is fantastic proof of the effectiveness of Rahat's educational efforts, as these two ailments were among the most common problems that the vets encountered when Rahat first started. Yoke gall is a condition in which painful, infected sores are caused by the constant rubbing of the heavy wooden yoke against an animal's neck and shoulders. By teaching owners to maintain and position the yoke properly, the Rahat staff has spared thousands of bullocks from this debilitating injury.

Adding some variety to the types of patients encountered over the past few months have been camels, who belong to nomads traveling through the area. The humid climate in this region causes serious skin problems for the camels. In fact, PETA India is working to stop the entry of camels into the state of Maharashtra based on a court order stating that camels cannot be in the vicinity of beaches precisely because of the unsuitable climate.

Recently, the Rahat staff was delighted by the kindness of an owner in the village of Jaisingpur. A village magistrate took his horse, Ekash, to a Rahat station for treatment of weakness, depression, and some abrasions. Ekash also only had use of his left eye, as his right eye had shrunken into the socket because of an injury.

The Rahat team learned that Ekash had been roaming the streets of the Kolhapur District with his injured eye; he eventually became so weak that he could not move. Remarkably, a journalist took note of Ekash's plight and wrote an article in the local paper asking people to come to the horse's aid. When the magistrate saw the article, he decided to adopt Ekash. The team was thrilled to see a prominent community leader set such a compassionate example.

One of the more severe cases that the team recently encountered involved a bullock named Sagar, whose front knee was severely swollen. The injury was causing him so much pain that he couldn't stand for more than an hour at a time; Sagar had developed bed sores from lying down for the previous few weeks.

After hearing about Animal Rahat from a friend, Sagar's owner drove the bullock to a Rahat treatment station. A few days after receiving medicine to be applied to the injury as well as instructions for daily physiotherapy exercises to be performed on Sagar, the owner took Sagar back for a check-up. Success! The swelling was reduced. Sagar was able to stand for four hours at a time, was regaining his appetite, and was eager to walk.

A very important aspect of Animal Rahat is its animal-retirement program. Often, long-suffering cart animals are sold for slaughter—which is generally performed without stunning and following an unbearably long journey—when they become too old or ill to work. 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 enjoyed free from work and pain and so that they will be spared the terror and agony of the slaughterhouse.

To lessen the expenses incurred by owners when they are not earning money with their bullocks, Animal Rahat pays for part of the animals' feeding expenses if the retired animals are kept with their owners. There are currently seven retired bullocks who are living with their families thanks to Rahat.

The most recent bullock to retire was Dhumalya (pictured above). At the age of 22, Dhumalya will live at home and enjoy days filled with nothing but rest, food, and loving care from now on.

If owners do not have enough money to keep their bullocks after they become too old to work, Rahat encourages owners to turn their animals over to Rahat instead of selling them for slaughter. There are 16 bullocks, horses, and donkeys who are now living at the two Rahat retirement facilities and will never be overloaded again.

Animal Rahat sponsors make this program for India's working animals possible. Thank you!