What we do for our animals?

The very reason that we at PAWS Thrissur started animal welfare activities was due to the lack of a group or individuals equipped to undertake rescue of animals in Thrissur district. Though there were small groups across the district handling small rescue missions, none of the people involved in these activities had a proper understanding regarding animal psychology, and did not adhere to wearing safety gear while rescuing the animals in distress. Hence, our founder, Ms. Preethi Sreevalsan realised the importance of having a dedicated and trained team looking into the rescues.

Animal rescue is a much-needed social service that helps protect animals from dangerous situations like accidents and often cruelty and abuse as well. Also, it very often happens that aged and sick animals are abandoned by their owners/parents because they do not have the heart to care for them when they are sick. Many animals are turned into shelters due to evictions, expensive health concerns, or other unfortunate circumstances.

Animal life being considered secondary to human life and the lack of awareness regarding the importance of the survival of animal species often lead people to think that their wellbeing is not their concern. We have a strong team of volunteers and staff members who are trained to undertake rescue missions. All the members involved in these missions have taken a course of pre-exposure anti rabies vaccination and are trained to understand the behaviour of animals.

We unfortunately come across horrifying news of how pain and cruelty is inflicted upon animals and humans and the question we often ask ourselves is, “but why do people hurt other people/animals?”.

As far as animal cruelty is concerned there have been a few possible reasons listed for this kind of behavior. Animals are considered secondary to humans and hence get ignored. Their well being also gets affected by many human interventions. People also inflict pain on animals as a form of amusement or “shock value”.

We also very often come across un-managed emotions like anger and distress directed at animals. There are cases where people tend to take a particular hatred towards a specific species of animals (for example, people who hate cats or street dogs).

Interestingly, pain and cruelty is also a way many people take to in order to show power and control. In many communities it is also performed as part of religious customs such as animal sacrifices. None of these acts are justifiable and there should be stricter laws employed in order to bring these crimes down.

Deciding to bring home a new pet member is exciting. And adopting a pet from a shelter or rescue group is not only exciting, it’s truly an enlightening experience. Adopting pets has become more and more popular and accessible but in spite of this, popular culture is to still ‘buy’ purebred dogs. More than companionship, it has become more of a status symbol in today’s community. City animal shelters, nonprofit shelters and rescue groups are full of pets who have lost their homes for any number of reasons and at PAWS Thrissur too we have such beautiful animals whose lives we’ve saved and brought back to normal.

Mostly dogs and almost all of them either fully Indie or ends up a cross between an Indie and another breed. Anyhow, the reality is, we still have few takers for the rescued animals. We have been conducting adoption drives for the past 5 years now and also have regular adoptions that happen on a daily basis too. We have observed that puppies, for many reasons, get adopted very quickly, but even here there is disparity. Female Indie puppies have lesser takers, whereas the same male puppies are higher in demand. If s breed dog, then any age, if a female, gets the highest number of calls.

By adopting a pet from an animal shelter or rescue group, we help save the lives of two animals—the pet you adopt and a homeless animal that can be rescued because of the space you make available.

At PAWS Thrissur we ensure every animal going out of our shelter is sterilised. Through sterilisation, we are helping animals to have a healthier life, as sterilised animals are less prone to certain diseases. In a community, it also ensures a healthy number of animals by which we can maintain a decent relationship between humans and animals by which we reduce human-animal conflicts. This in turn ensures better lives for existing animals in a community and reduces overburdening of animal shelters. Female dogs particularly are subject to the ‘when’ of sterilisation. While it is best to get your female pet sterilised before her first heat, regardless of gender, a pet (cat or dog) aged between 5 to 6 months is fit for sterilisation, which means pet parents need not necessarily wait until the first heat.

The Veterinary University at Mannuthy conducted a training camp for veterinary doctors across the district, on sterilisation / Animal Birth Control surgeries. All the dogs for the training camp were provided by PAWS Thrissur. This was a fantastic opportunity for us to get around 100 dogs sterilized , as we didn’t have our own operation theatre facility. This was also a great opportunity for people who adopted from us, to get sterilisation done for their pets at a very nominal cost.

PAWS THRISSUR conducted its first awareness programme at Sandeepani Vidyanikethan for 5 days from 5.11.12 to 9.11.12 for classes 5 to 12. The first day was for children from the 9th,11th and 12th classes. Dr Binoy V.V ( junior scientist, NIAS) conducted the programme and created awareness on topics related to animal welfare and ecology. Many students joined PAWS THRISSUR as volunteers.

Dr Namita Prasad conducted the programme on 6th for the 8th std, 7th for the 7th std, 8th for the 6th std and the last day- 9th was for students from the 5th std. The programme was modified on each day, based on the age group. On day 3, the students had a great opportunity of meeting Droopy, an abandoned Cocker Spaniel, who was rescued and adopted by Sally and Kannan, members of PAWS THRISSUR. The students came forward to talk to Droopy and pet him, which showed that exposure to and interaction with pets,from a young age does help children to love animals and be compassionate towards them.

The programme concluded on the 9th of Nov with a class for the students of the 5th std and the principal of the school, Mrs Meera along with members of PAWS THRISSUR, planting 3 ‘Elangi’ trees, where a few messages to the children were displayed.

ABC programme in Thrissur: a first for Kerala. There was an urgent need to implement the Animal Birth Control in Thrissur. The stray animal population had increased alarmingly and more and more cases of dogs attacking people, especially children, were being reported. The panic response, because of the fear of Rabies, to this was rampant killing of stray dogs using gruesome methods.

Not only was this inhumane but it was also punishable under the Animal protection laws. It has been proved by trial in many cities across India that the only way out of this impasse was to implement the ABC (Animal Birth Control)and vaccination against rabies programme. We got in touch with a group of doctors in Bangalore who were prepared to come down to Thrissur with a team of dog catchers and paramedics. This was a first in the whole of Kerala.

Though the courts have been asking the different corporations all across Kerala to get this implemented on a war footing, the authorities for whatever reason, had not done so. So PAWS THRISSUR decided to go ahead with this. Since the corporation members were not in agreement, they would not fund us. We decided to go ahead all the same. Luckily the District Collector and some of the members were prepared to help us. So we were allotted a few rooms in a school in Ollur panchayath. Thus we launched the ABC programme in Thrissur on 21.05.2014 inspite of numerous problems that we faced, including a shortage of anaesthetic medicine. We raised the money from our friends and contacts. The programme was a success. We had to stop after a week as the schools were reopening and we had to vacate the premises. But we do plan on continuing with it when we are able to find another suitable place. We are very grateful to the individuals who helped us with taking this mission forward.