The little pups were absolutely adorable. Prancing about in the open-to-sky enclosure at the animal shelter of the Gomantak Pashu Rakshak Sanstha (GPRS) in Cavorem, South Goa.
A light brown pup with very mischievous eyes jumped the highest, while a regular brown pup seemed equally energetic and a slightly shy spotted pup seemed boxed in by these two. All of them wanted to be picked up and cuddled. These abandoned pups have been rescued by Team GPRS from the coastal villages near Margao or in and around Quepem, inoculated with the rabies vaccine, spayed, dewormed, bathed and made ready for the forthcoming adoption camp to be held on Sunday, November 6 in Colva (see details in info box below).
In 2015 GPRS teamed up with local business PhotoGenie and together they organised at least two adoption camps around South Goa coastal area every month. They have so far managed to find loving homes for 177 of these Indian puppies. GPRS was started by five animal lovers two years ago and the adoption drives for little pups is one of the three key activities of this small, yet efficient South Goa registered NGO.
Speaking to The Herald a few days ago, Grace Kare, President of GPRS, said that citizens usually alerted the GPRS team about pups and directed them to the location. The GPRS objective has always been to rescue the pups and sterilise the mother dog if found, thereby bringing down the population of strays. However, in all these cases, as Grace pointed out, the onus is placed on the citizen or group of citizens to fund the sterilisation expenses of the mother. “Our aim is to encourage people to experience the positive effect that their involvement can have on animals in need,” said Grace.
Rescue and rehabilitation of strays is the other very important activity that GPRS undertakes. Take for instance, Kali, a female adult dog who was picked up from near a hotel in Carmona. Kali is old with failing eyesight and had a large tumour on her leg. Shifted to the GPRS shelter, Kali has been operated for her tumour and is recovering very well.
Similarly, a few days ago, GPRS picked up an injured stray dog from the busy Colva beach road, a victim of a hit and run case. This dog is old and suffers from poor eyesight and has now injured her leg in the accident. When we visited the shelter, we found her sleeping peacefully in one of the neat and spotlessly clean cages. She owes her second life to GPRS.
Grace says, “We have noticed that cars are speeding more, particularly after the government removed the speed breakers on all key South Goa roads for the BRICS event. This is extremely hazardous for stray dogs who are unable to judge the additional speed of the cars. We see a dog dying on the roads every day. It is extremely sad.”
The compassion and care the GPRS team has for stray dogs is touching. Sample this. Tracie Potts, a British national, who volunteers actively with GPRS for six months of the year was alerted about a dog near the Hospicio hospital in Margao a couple years back. Scraggles, as she was named by her rescuers, was suffering from a very severe case of Mange and had lost most of her fur and was being shunned by the passers-by. Tracie trained the rescuers to feed her with the appropriate medicine which went on for almost 2 months. Lo and behold, Scraggles recovered and her fur returned, as is evident from her before and after pictures!
As Grace says, animal care boils down to having a deep compassion and kindness within yourself which when used effectively can change the life of an animal for the better. GPRS in their bid to create this kindness in society has undertaken short ‘kindness and empathy’ workshops under their ‘Learn Centre’ programme for school children in government schools in the Margao region. Typically, four sessions of 45 minutes are taken up with children from the fourth to sixth grades. Children are explained the concept of kindness and what it means to be
kind and helpful to people and animals alike. The children are encouraged to list down their daily deeds of kindness and draw and paint pictures depicting the same. The Learn Centre aims to develop a whole new generation of kinder people.
In this way, armed with a small four-person team at the Cavorem shelter, two Suzuki vans and a team of dedicated volunteers, GPRS works enthusiastically towards making a difference to the lives of animals in South Goa.
