Karishma’s story, like that of all the other
stray dogs who are sterilized and looked after, merits attention as to how
spaying changes the life of a stray dog, certainly for the better. In the words
of Dr. Kuhu Roy, co founder Bridging Rainbows Foundation,
“It was a rainy day in July 2014 and I was on
my way to work. The traffic was very slow. I took a detour, and about a
kilometre from there, my eyes fell on this scrawny lactating stray dog who was
rummaging in the garbage. I stopped at a distance, pulled out food and a
utensil from my bag and walked towards her. The place was stinking but I had no
other option but to walk in that mess to draw her attention towards me. A
whistle and she looked at the source, then at the bowl in my hand. Fortunately,
she was not a timid dog. As I walked out of that slush, she followed me with a
confused look in her eyes (that is when the picture on the left was taken). I
kept the bowl in a clean place and she pounced on the food. In a minute, she
polished off the bowl. She then broke into a run. In an area I had never
ventured to, it was very important for me to know her whereabouts and follow
her to find her pups too. A few metres from there were four bundles of joy; two
white, one black and one brown whom she began to nurse. On my way back, none of
the stray dogs of that location had a clipped ear (an acute angle cut depicts
the stray dog is sterilized and vaccinated against rabies).
From the next day onwards, the mother dog and
her pups joined our extended family and came under Maa’s care. She met them
every day during her daily rounds. Since my doctoral work was at the peak that
time, I did not get an opportunity for months together to meet them, but I got
regular updates in between from Maa. The mother dog and her surviving children
who had grown up were sterilized. Then one day when I had a little time in
hand, I dropped by at the same location. The small make shift house once made
for the pups was disbanded, but there appeared three healthy dogs; one among
them was that mother dog. In that instant, I named her Karishma. She leaped
onto me and then her eyes checked as to where the food bowl was, her tail
continued to wag. She enjoyed the meal with her children and then came to see
me off. What a confident and happy child she was (that is when the picture on
the right was taken). Karishma was my mother’s labour of love, like the scores
of her other children. Maa is just not a camera phone person. Her years of
selfless service and the time spent with her children remains in her heart,
which she says is far more beautiful than what a camera can capture. Thanks to
meeting with Karishma, close to fifty stray dogs in a two square kilometer
radius were sterilized and that area had become rabies free by mid 2015.”
Instead of using stray mother dogs as breeding machines, as is the trend these days, to churn out pups to be put for adoption, why not humanely reduce their population by timely spaying and bring some dignity to their lives?
#spayandneuter #mansbestfriend
