Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Animal Rights? Who Cares?

I have long been an advocate of animal rights. Probably even to the extent of Menaka Gandhi. When we were young, my sister and I used to take butterflies with broken wings and place them on flowers, childishly hoping that they would drink nectar from them. Now that I am an adult, I do not indulge in such things, but my concern for animals remains.

Yesterday, an eagle got shocked from the live wire near my window at work. A colleague and I called the Animal Rights Fund. We saw good advertisements about it on the web. And boy, was it a mistake! I had to leave early yesterday, and my poor colleague was at our workplace when the guys from ARF came. Apparently, they were rude and horribly uncaring about the bird. The details are too gory for me to go into them again, but the bird finally got scared and fell from the stairs and died.

Are all "non-profit" organizations like this? I am just writing this to get the anger out of my system. Okay, we do not expect them to be perfect gentlemen, but they should at least have a little concern about the creatures they have made their mission to save!

10 comments:

Bhel Puri & Seekh Kabab said...

Given the halo that surrounds most NGOs, it is good to get a real-life perspective like yours. You may want to call their office and describe the situation - if what you describe is a one-off situation, they may be able to take corrective action.

BPSK

Anonymous said...

There is too much of 'I' in your posts. hope you take up some creative writing instead of commenting on everything that happens / that is there...

Narendra shenoy said...

Check out http://green-indians.blogspot.com/

This is a dentist couple based in Mumbai and completely committed to leaving nature unspoiled. They have a charming sense of humour

Anonymous said...

see this http://sampada.net/article/6203 for a change.

parijata said...

@BPSK,
I really hope that this was a one-off situation. I will take your advice.

@Anon #1,
Thanks for the comment. But this is my blog, and I write about stuff I do feel strongly about.

@Narendra Shenoy and Anon#2,
Thanks for the link. I am sure there are many people committed to save animals and are friendly towards the environment. A few years ago, I read that a couple of middle-aged men went about distributing plants all around Chennai, and managed to distribute about fifteen thousand plants! I just got stuck with the wrong organization / wrong people!

Anonymous said...

Uncaring Animal Care people reminds me of our own government hospitals where similar uncaring attitude rules.

Around the time you posted this blog, I happened to watch a Kannada channel which showed one Mr. Ithala of Saligrama (yes, Karanth's place) recovering at Manipal Hospital in Manipal. He was recovering from the shock inflicted by the Forest/Wildlife Dept. officials who raided his home and took by force the various animals which were being tended by him. It seems he used to bring home and take care of wounded animals. The newsclip also showed a few crestfallen animals and dogs which refused to take food on account of their friend's absence.

parijata said...

@Aram,
What else can we expect of our insane government and politicians?
That is the tragedy. People who genuinely care for animals are hounded, whereas people who merely pay lip service to their cause receive huge grants. It is a mad, mad, mad world! (I am in a very pessimistic mood today!)

krupa said...

I too feel very strongly about animal rights(I had hit a guy for beating his dog)
It must have hurt you deeply to see the bird lose its life becoz of somebody's apathy!

latha vidyaranya said...

hi, i share your concern for birds and bees and dogs and cats. our NGOs and NPOs are doing their bit in caring for and saving animals. but they have very poor resouces of funds and within this limitation, they are doing a good job. i have contacted them twice before, once when a dog got injured in a vehicular accident and another time when we found an injured cow lying on the road. both the times we called the SPCA and also CUPA. one of them came with their little van and a vet and helped shift the dog, and treat the cow on the spot itself.

we come across so many such injured animals on the road and how many calls can they attend to? ofcourse, whatever may be their limitation of resources, they need not be limited in their god given speech - "vachane kaa daridrataa"!

parijata said...

All,
Very sorry for not replying earlier.

@Krupa,
I am a regular reader of your posts, after reading 'ee hudugi tumba preachy'. Thanks for the comment.

@Latha,
Thanks for stopping by. I used to read you on the Advaita list (you're the same Latha Vidyaranya, right?). I completely understand that it is impossible for any NGO to attend all the calls that they receive. If they had But when they do attend a rescue-call, shouldn't they try to actually rescue the animal?
They are certainly not limited in their speech. Look at the flashy ads!