Our sterilization program has stepped up a level. Our aim of carrying out multiple sterilization camps around the district is finally coming to pass. In April the local council requested we carry lout a camp in Keylong, Lahaul. Although this is outside our usual working area, we know how isolated and how few veterinary facilities are available in the region. Therefore, we were eager to help, and travelled to the snow-covered region to sterilize 81 dogs.
After the success of the Keylong camp, we arranged a camp in Manali in response to the devastating poisonings that occurred a few months beforehand. We managed to sterilize 120 dogs before the monsoon started, forcing us to halt until after the heavy rains stop in September.
Now to those monsoon rains.
Manali is a mountain town building a valley, with steep. Mountains either side of the Beas River that runs all the way through the Kullu Valley. This year saw a huge amount of rainfall in a short period of time, causing the river to rise significantly and burst its banks. Roads were washed away, Buildings disappeared, bridges were knocked down, power, water, and internet was lost for days, and in some areas is still not properly connected again. People lost their homes, livelihood and in many cases their lives. And the animals did not go unharmed either. Many died, washed away by the river or crushed under falling buildings.
However, we managed to save a great many, Some were stuck in the middle of the river on small boulders or land masses. Many were found roaming and injured, unable to find food. The number of rescues we had to carry out and the number of inpatients in our care rose drastically. In one single day, we rescued 27 dogs.
We have also started to receive more calls about wildlife in recent months.This has resulted in usrescuing a6-weekold Rhesus macaque monkey after she and her motherwere electrocuted. Sadlythe mother died instabntly leaving Koko an orphan. We treated her burn wounds and ensured hersurvival, but we are not set upformonkeys somust make a plan for her future. We alsorescued a jackal, ananaimal that is rarely seen by humans. He was hit by a car, suffering severe injuries. However, with several weeksof care from our dedicated team he made a full recovery and was released back to the area he was found.
This was also the time of year when flies wreak havoc on animals, causing the slightest injury to become a devastating wound after maggots eat away at the animal.It has been difficult and stressful for our team, with each member having to work without a day off for weeks on end due to the workload and limited resources we have, but we have gotten through it.
We are now in the process of organizing a large sterilization camp in the main Kullu town, followed by several smaller ones in local villages. The work we do is ongoing, so we are so grateful to all of our supporters who continue to donate and make it possible.
Thank you all
Dear Supporter,
The past three months saw a flurry of activity at Manali Strays. Some good, but some heart-breaking. First with the good!
We have seen increased people coming to Manali Strays specifically to feed the inpatients. They cook special meals or bring yummy food just for the lucky dogs. As you can imagine, the inpatients love this and get super excited as they smell all the delicious food cooking just for them. One girl and her friends came on New Year’s Day to give the dogs a special New Year’s Days lunch, complete with dog-friendly cake. Another college student decided to celebrate his birthday by cooking for the dogs and bringing it along to Manali Strays at dinner time. And one You Tube creator who makes outdoor cooking videos came and cooked on an open fire, creating a delicious meal for each of the dogs.
These small acts of kindness really make a difference to the dogs stay while recovering at Manali Strays, and hopefully more people will choose to help the dogs in this way.
We are also very excited to inform our supporters that we have been able to purchase a biochemistry analyser. We have been working towards this for a while now, and finally it has been made possible because of such amazing people like yourselves who support us. Now we have a haematology and a biochemistry analyser, making it much easier to check the health of inpatients and rescues, allowing us to put them on appropriate treatment. Our next big goal is an x-ray machine so that dogs in pain don’t have to be transported multiple times for x-rays.
Winter sees a lot of snow in our region, especially just north of us in Lahaul. So this year, we took advantage of it and collaborated with India’s only Snow Marathon and organised India’s only Snow Dog Race… Snow Tails. We invited pet parents to bring their pooches and run the 1 km track at an altitude of 11,000 feet / 3500 metres. The aim was to raise awareness for animal welfare in general and the work of Manali Strays. We were also lucky enough for it to be covered by India’s national media, and WION international news station. The dogs who participated had a great day playing in the snow and getting to run with their Hoomans. The winner of the race was Froggy, a 10 year old street dog rescued from Delhi as a puppuy, but now living in Manali. Second place went to Chinki, a young dog who was rescue by Manali Strays when she was 3 months old after being attacked by anorther dog. She lost her eye in the attack, but it clearly hasn't held her back. She was recently adopted by a lovely local family. We now hope this will be an annual event that will grow into a winter festival with many different activities.
During the winter months of December to March, we carry our fewer sterilisation surgeries because keeping patients warm during and after surgery is very difficult. (here in the Himalayas there is no central heating, buildings are not insulated, and only have poorly fitted single glazing). So far this year we have sterilised 51 dogs, but we have several ABC camps lined up where we will sterilise 50 to 100 dogs in a village over a period of 10 to 14 days.
We have treated 341 animals for various medical conditions, including a beautiful Himalayan leopard cat (a smaller cousin of the Leopard). He got caught in a hunting trap and was close to death with hypothermia when found, but luckily some IV fluids, rest, and warmth were all he needed, and we happily set him free as soon as he had recovered.
Ok, now for the sad news. The town of Manali very recently experienced a horrific act, whereby a number of street dogs and a free-roaming pet were poisoned intentionally in an attempt to address the street dogs, which are seen by many local people as a problem. After the incident Manali Strays arranged meetings with the local council to try and get them to help us by contributing towards the cost of sterilising the dogs within their jurisdiction. Talks are on-going, but we are hopeful that something positive can come from this tragedy. We will keep you up-dated.
Thank you to all who continue to support us on a regular basis and those who are new supporters. We really couldn’t do it without you, and so many animals would have died needless deaths.
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Dear Friend of Manali Strays,
Another year gone, but so many innocent lives saved and changed for the better.
Being the only animal rescue in a 20,000 square km area (Kullu district and Lahaul & Spiti district), we often receive far more calls for help than we can manage with our team of six staff and two volunteers (including founders and managerial staff). In comparison, neighbouring districts like Kangra have three animal rescue charities working within 20 km of each other.
For example, in September, we had to complete a 180 km, and 6-hour, trip to rescue a young puppy. Spiti had been hit by a car and then dumped at a small camp site in the remote mountains of Spiti Valley. Sadly, she was left paralyzed, so we are working on finding her a loving home who will give her the life she deserves.
Spiti was just one of 378 animals that we rescued in 2022. Many had been hit by cars or suffered severe wounds from fighting with other dogs. Animals caught in traps is another common occurrence that we see here in the mountains. This year alone we had to rescue a god caught in an iron trap resulting in the amputation of her leg. We also had to rescue a fox that was caught in a wire trap set for wild pigs. For the second year running, we have seen many distemper cases. This disease is often fatal and we have seen many animals suffer and tragically lose their lives because of this disease.
Another tragic disease is rabies. Sadly, it is still prominent among dogs in this area, with 15 cases being brought to our attention in 2022. In response to this, we have held several vaccination drives, administering 1487 vaccinates this year.
Sterilization will always be one of our main focuses; by reducing the overall population of street dogs, we can minimize their suffering and chances of being injured or contracting infectious diseases. This year we sterilized 496 dogs, including 100 dogs that were sterilized as part of a 2-week camp working with a visiting group from Delhi. We hope collaborations like this will continue and enable us to have an even greater impact within our community and reach far more animals than would normally be possible.
None of the work we do would be possible without the support of people like you. We hope that in the near future, we will be able to expand by increasing our team size and allowing us to rescue more animals, sterilize more dogs, and run a more efficient animal rescue.
Have a great Christmas and a Happy New year.
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