GUWAHATI, Sept 6 - Altogether 17 dogs � victims of road accidents and serious diseases � are now facing an uncertain future as the group of animal lovers who had rescued them, has been facing immense trouble in finding some space to set up their own shelter home for pets.
The animals were rescued by a group named Street Animal Welfare, Guwahati. The group consists of persons from various walks of life and over the past few months they have been working on rescue of street dogs.
�As an animal welfare group in the last one-and-a-half-years of our existence, we have rescued and treated more than 231 cases. At present, we have 17 dogs and among them three have paraplegic disorder, three are blind, two are old, and nine have some minor disorders. We have kept them in a cr�che in Patharquarry area of the city. But now it is no longer possible for us to maintain them, as the cost of keeping them in the cr�che is very high,� said Rashmi Choudhury, a core member of the group.
According to Rashmi, three dogs have severe leg injuries and one of them is in a completely paralysed condition.
�The dog that is now completely paralysed was rescued by our members from Khanapara area. He was abandoned by the owner and has infection in both hind legs. Later doctors had to amputate both the legs and he has become permanently paralysed. The other two dogs are also victims of accident and we are trying our best to give them a normal life,� she said.
Explaining the various challenges they have faced, Rashmi said, �As animal activists we encounter a lot of obstacles, the greatest being the lack of space to keep ailing animals. We don�t have an animal shelter of our own and thus we have taken a space on rent wherein our rescued animals are looked after and given post-operative care. Street Animal Welfare is not a registered NGO and runs entirely on member contribution. All the animals are kept in this cr�che which costs approximately Rs 6,000 per animal per month.�
She further said, �Without a shelter home of our own, the cr�che rent itself involves an enormous amount of our funds, leaving us with very little scope to help the huge number of cases awaiting treatment. We get reports of sick, accident-hit cases almost every alternate day, but with a capacity of just 15, today the cr�che is sheltering cases beyond its capacity and practically we are not in a position to take in more cases with our limited space and resources.�
