Vanguard of the streets
CHENNAI : Minutes before a large white van rumbles onto the scene, the alert furry ears of strays in the potholed lanes of Madipakkam perk up. Apart from the dreaded ointments and injections, this vehicle holds the promise of gentle firm hands. On board, 26-year-old veterinarian Dr Gisha Tresa Binny is armed with her bag of usually unattainable crunchy treats to coax and soothe her four-pawed patients.
This strategy rarely fails and the streets are full of our patients, laughs Dr Gisha, pointing to a black stray at Madipakkam, a sandy canine near Velachery, or recalling an alley cat. Two of these mobile vehicles, run by animal welfare charity Blue Cross and international organisation Four Paws, have treated hundreds of stray animals in a year since their launch. A third van was inaugurated on March 5. Equipped with surgery tables, cages, and the like, a three-member team treats around 10-20 strays a day on average, the veterinarian tells CE.
Early start
Undaunted by the simmering mornings, the team — driver/ dog-catcher Ramachandran, Dr Gisha, and animal rescuer Velu TM— clamber onto the vehicle, colloquially referred to as the dog ambulance, at 9.15 am sharp. The howls, chirps, and mews of Blue Cross’ jolly residents fade into grating honks. The three staff — the order usually changed up on rotation — scan their rescue app for their patient list, processed by the helpdesk from citizen requests.
This vehicle has met nearly every stray dog and cat within a 14-km radius of the Blue Cross office. “With the app, we attend to emergency cases first. The least important ones are taken care of last and we schedule a visit every three days. We check the informer’s registration/phone number to call them and ensure that the dog is there so we can deal with confirmed cases,” explains Dr Gisha.
Ramachandran, who seems to have the city map running through his veins, zigzags past the main roads into the Thoraipakkam to treat one of their first few patients for the day — the brown and white-tufted Nilavan with a painful eye infection. After Ramachandran assesses whether the canine is the friendly sort, he leashes the stray and heaves him onto the surgery table. In practised moves, Dr Gisha checks the ears, strokes his fur, and administers eye drops.
In a jiffy, the pup has been treated and basks in sunlight at the end of the road while the vet asks the caregivers if they can feed medicines to the stray. “Often, if the informer is good and reliable, we can prescribe medication until we come for our next visit,” she says. During their trip across the city, the vehicle also momentarily halts to treat and administer anti-rabies jabs and 9-in-1 shots to strays.
Not all dogs are calm as Nilavan on the treatment table. A few kilometre away inside the narrow by-lanes of Perungudi lined with closely built colourful houses, the team encounters a skittish stray with the fast-spreading symptoms of mange and a lack of appetite. Tied by his caregivers to a scooter, the shivering dog is ready to bound away any second. After a few attempts, Ramachandran is forced to muzzle the ragged, bone-thin dog. As the caregivers coo at the canine (avalo dhaan, pa, aachu pakki), Dr Gisha and Ramachandran spread green sulfur ointment and check his limbs for bites. “Mange cases required multiple visits,” she explains.
Instead of taking the stray to a shelter with limited resources, the vehicle allows for more efficient treatment. “The usual issues of cross-infection and in-patient overcrowding in kennels are solved apart from boosting the recovery time of animals,” Dr Gisha says, adding that serious cases would have been shifted to the shelter. Three other vehicles dedicated solely to ferrying strays to the shelter ply across three zones — Avadi, Beach, and Tambaram.
Foolproof app-solute solution
The idea for the rescue app has its roots in the growing necessity to treat simple cases of injuries on the streets. In 2019, Blue Cross had a helpline number for the mobile vehicle and it’d log in 600-700 calls a day with 150-200 rescue-related calls, says the general manager of Blue Cross, Vinoth Kumar.
Speaking to CE in his office, Vinoth is outnumbered by cats who have claimed his workspace, slumbering on the table, chair, and printer. A labrador named Doxy — rescued from the streets — snoozes nearby, a testament to how these animals have found a home, after a hard life.
From their call system, Blue Cross switched to circulating an online link in English and Tamil to boost efficiency in time and dealing with cases. “There’s a drop-down menu with the address, whether it’s a dog or a cat, and details on colour and gender. There’s an option to enter what is wrong with it and a picture has to be uploaded. A reference number is assigned and then in real-time, it’ll come into our system,” he says.
According to Blue Cross co-founder Chinny Krishna the vehicle, which was purchased for `24 lakh, requires a monthly upkeep cost of `2 lakh. Meanwhile, asked about plans to launch this vehicle and app in other cities, Chinny mentions the NGO faces a lack of doctors and funds. “But things are changing. When I started the Blue Cross in 1959, almost 100% of the veterinarians were male. Today, I think there are more female students than males in the basic course,” he adds optimistically.
Call to reduce shelters
Dr Gisha makes a strong case for reducing shelters and instead ensuring the furballs find a home .“A shelter is not a place for a healthy dog as there’s not enough ideal space and enrichment because it is overcrowded. Shelters work for deaf dogs or paraplegic dogs...the life of a stray is unpredictable as anyone can throw a stone or poison your next meal, days before a bowl of water, a vehicle can run around you, and nobody would take you to a facility.” She adds that rather than bringing dogs to new environments, treating injured dogs on the streets would be a better option.
Velu adds that dogs have as much right to the streets as humans do. “Also, if one family keeps adopting one dog there will be no more strays, we have crores of people and fewer dogs. Yet everyone has an agenda, they want a specific dog, sorrinai kitta pomatanga, (They won’t go near dirty dogs) we have been raised with that idea,” he points out.
By 4.45 pm, the trio handles their last cases before heading back to the Blue Cross Office. It’s been a long day, they admit but enriching. For Dr Gisha, it is the memory of a dog with her four pups in Nemlichery last November that lingers in her mind. “She was full of mange and couldn’t stand up when we visited. By the fifth visit, she had transformed into another dog. Doing something for someone who can’t do anything for you, is a lot of gratification.” No doubt, the canine would have warm memories of the dog treats to remember her by too. For the ambulance service, register on: bit.ly/bcisresq
Creating solutions
The idea for the rescue app has its roots in the growing necessity to treat simple cases of injuries on the streets. In 2019, Blue Cross had a helpline for the mobile vehicle and it’d log in 600-700 calls a day with 150-200 rescue-related calls, says the general manager of Blue Cross, Vinoth Kumar.