Animal Rahat Update

February – April 2008

Animal Rahat ("rahat" means relief) is a nonprofit animal welfare organization in India that PETA helped to establish and is now helping to expand. Most working animals in India belong to people who cannot afford—and don't know how—to maintain even a minimum standard of care. Bullocks, buffaloes, horses, camels, and donkeys suffer from poor nutrition (sometimes, they eat only weeds!) as well as dehydration, untreated sores, overloading, injuries, and even beatings from drivers who are determined to keep the animals moving. Two of the most common problems for these animals are lameness and depression. These debilitated and despairing animals lose the will to carry on as a direct result of their poor diet and the grueling physical demands made of them.

Staffed by a team of trained veterinarians and their assistants, Animal Rahat offers vital relief to these animals. The program helps animals whose owners don't have enough money to meet the animals' basic requirements. When necessary, Animal Rahat pays owners to repair broken harnesses or obtain medicine to treat animals' serious illnesses or injuries.

Rahat also teaches people about basic animal welfare, including fundamental, practical measures, such as providing real fodder rather than contaminated scrub and giving animals who are working in the heat enough water to keep them from collapsing. Carts full of passengers or commodities like bricks can weigh thousands of pounds, so it is crucial to teach people to reduce and balance the loads that animals are forced to pull along heavily rutted tracks on unpaved roads.

Founded in 2003 with just one treatment station, the program now has 49 treatment stations in Maharashtra—one of the largest and most populous states in India. Twenty-seven stations are located in Solapur, and 22 are located in Sangli. Animal Rahat started with just two employees and has grown to include a staff of seven. At first, Rahat veterinarians could treat just 10 to 15 animals per day, but now the average number of animals treated per day is 60!

In addition to working on the daily routes between villages to cover all the treatment stations, Rahat also holds tetanus vaccination "camps," where people can get their animals vaccinated for free.

In the next section, we report just a few of the many achievements that Animal Rahat has made between February and April 2008.

Helping Working Animals Retire
A very important aspect of Animal Rahat is its animal-retirement program. Often, long-suffering animals who have been used to pull carts are sold for slaughter—which is generally performed without stunning after an unbearably long and hellish journey to the slaughterhouse—when they become too old or ill to work. As an alternative, the Rahat staff encourages owners to allow animals to continue living with their families until they die so that their remaining years can be enjoyed free from work and pain and the terror and agony of the slaughterhouse.

To lessen the expenses incurred by owners when they are not using their animals to earn money, Animal Rahat pays for a part of the animals' feed expenses if the retired animals are kept with their owners. Currently, six retired bullocks and two retired horses are living with their families, thanks to Rahat.

If owners do not have enough money to keep their animals after the animals become too old to work, Animal Rahat encourages owners to turn their animals over to Animal Rahat instead of selling them for slaughter.

During the previous quarter, Animal Rahat purchased a four-acre plot of land for a permanent retirement facility (Rahat was renting the land previously used for this purpose). This quarter, Rahat hired a consultant, who is providing advice on the design of the new facility. The necessary permits for electricity and water have been obtained already, and the soil is being evaluated now.

The new shades and paddocks will be made of coconut leaves, dried grass, and other natural material. These materials are eco-friendly, easily obtained, and less costly than traditional building materials.

In the meantime, the vets have neutered new retirees in preparation for their transfer to the sanctuary. They also recently performed a successful surgery to remove a cancerous growth from the eye of a newly retired bull named Raja, who is recuperating well.

Animal Rahat decided to transfer the four horses and four donkeys who were living at the sanctuary to the India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN) refuge in the Nilgiris (aka the Blue Mountains) because the soil there is much better for equines. The animals were transported there this quarter, and as a part of a cooperative relationship between Animal Rahat and IPAN, all future equine retirees will go to the IPAN refuge as well.

Three bullocks are now living at the Rahat retirement facility, where they will enjoy comfort, rest, full bellies, shade, and peace for the rest of their lives.