Thiruvananthapuram: Dog centre haven for strays

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The ‘People for Animals’ Thiruvananthapuram chapter has been  taking care of  nearly  500 dogs which include 60 puppies, 50 rescued and abandoned dogs as well as 50 cats at the cattery.   It  has been functioning at a 1.5-acre area on  the outskirts of  the city at Valiyarathala in Malayinkeezhu panchayat since 2007. The PFA was founded in 1994 to  make  animal welfare  an effective movement across the country.  Within  two years, a group of animal lovers led by Leela Latheef  formed the PFA, Thiruvananthapuram chapter on  July 10,  1996 and  registered  it as a charitable trust organisation in 1999.  Over the years,  it  has evolved into an efficient  organization with rescue  facilities, animal shelter, hospital and a network of 10 – 15 active volunteers.

A bull, Manikantan, and a calf, Nandu, two brown kites, which have been rescued after they lost their  wings,  and a pigeon are also there.  More than a dozen Labradors and half-a-dozen Rottweilers, majority of them abandoned by their masters with some of them having skin ailments, are now living  in the  shelter. Sulochana, 45,  who cooks  food for the animals,    had joined the PFA with its trustee Latha Indira with just two stray dogs  years ago. “I have lost track of the years since I have been  working here. I love caring for the dogs and like us they also require love and care,” she  said.

PFA’s activities are divided into three sections – the main office section and a cattery, veterinary hospital and 15 spacious kennels with another 16 kennels under construction.   The eight staff  include  a driver-cum-dog catcher, three women helpers who clean  and cook  for the inmates, a veterinarian,  Dr. Sangeetha Mohan,  nurse G. S. Manjula and two managers, Anish M. Kalarikkat and his wife Beena Anish, who stay round the clock there. Dr. Sangeetha told DC that her daily rounds start at 9 a.m.  with 99 percent of the dogs and cats requiring medical care  including  injection and surgery.

“We are doing all types of surgeries except bone pinning. I don’t think there is a better place than this for a veterinarian  to  care for stray dogs and cats. It’s  a challenge to care for these stray animals as they can be aggressive at times”, said Dr. Sangeetha, a Parassala native. The premises of the animal shelter are well maintained  without any stinking smell as they have a biogas plant which takes care of the animal  excreta.

Beena Anish, one of the managers

People hostile to caring for dogs

The first thing that you notice at the entrance of the PFA’s Thiruvana-nthapuram chapter’s animal shelter is the huge flex board kept there. The flex asks, “Does the lives of human beings have any value”? It reveals the hostility by the locals against the PFA team and its animal shelter. Just 50 metres away from the animal shelter is a double storeyed home of 60 year old G. Pankajakshan, Malayinkeezhu Congress mandalam committee president.

A peeved Pankajakshan who is spearheading the protest against the PFA’s activities told DC that it has to be shifted elsewhere, at least 500 metre away from human habitat. He warns that more protest will be initiated against PFA as toddlers in the vicinity are experiencing skin rashes. “During the rainy season the whole area stinks which is causing severe discomfort to the locals. The local panchayat has not given the licence to PFA to function here. It was a lady, the Late Meenakshi Sundaram who duped the local people here where she had claimed that it’s a veterinary hospital being setup which later turned out to be a shelter home for stray animals,” said Pankajakshan.

While talking to Pankajakshan, a motley crowd of locals vied with each other to share their concerns about noise and environment pollution being posed by the shelter home. Another neighbour, 67 year old G. Sukumaran who runs a corner shop attached to his two storeyed home told DC that there are at times when the stray dogs jump the high wall of the shelter home. “None of us here are able to rear poultry since the last several years. The dogs jump the wall of the shelter home and kill our poultry,” he said.

However, T. Kuttappan, a daily wager in his 60’s was compassionate to the PFA’s activities. He told DC that few local women have got job at the animal shelter and it is not fair to criticise them. “Some days the dogs jump the compound wall which creates unrest among our pet dogs tied to their kennel at our homes. They will start barking in the night and this creates little tension. Who else will take care of the stray dogs?” asked Kuttappan. Beena Anish, one of the managers told DC that the locals are showing nothing, but intolerance towards their activities when normal lives of the locals are never affected in any way. 

Core team takes care of dogs at centre

There are seven core members of PFA which also includes 10–15 active volunteers comprising techies working at Technopark.  Other core members include Sobhitha Padmakumar who runs the dog annexe of PFA at Sasthamangalam – Paippinmoodu road, animal activists Swaroopa Karta and Sumitha Susheelan. 

Sreedevi S. Kartha, a full time PFA member and also a writer, poet, translator and a journalist. Just after DC had left the animal shelter on Thursday, the locals prevented one of our active members, T.K. Jayasheelan from entering the PFA office. This 26 year old lad had come all the way from Kanyakumari as there were no proper veterinary hospitals with a stray dog that had a leg fracture and a blind puppy which required urgent medical care.  Their demand was that Jayasheelan should carry both the dogs back with him. The police had to be called and they also sided with the locals. Day by day it is causing more hardships to us.

Latha Indira, trustee of PFA as well as the lifeline of the animal shelter is also a senior official in a Central government department: We are functioning purely on public funds. The locals are not realising the worth of our work. We could pay the salary of our employees for the last month only on Nov. 15. Following the locals protest, the health inspector from the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has asked us to install iron fencing on the six feet wall which would cost approximately Rs 1.5 lakh – Rs 2 lakh.