Animal Welfare India Project #56907

Help homeless animals access life-saving treatment

by Manali Strays

Project Report | Nov 25, 2024
November Update

By Becky Metcalf | Co-Founder

The new surgery layout and treatment area

This quarter has been an impactful period for Manali Strays, marked by successful rescues, expanded community outreach, and the strengthening of our veterinary care services. As we continue to focus on rescuing, rehabilitating, and rehoming stray animals in the rural mountain town of Manali, we are proud of the progress made and remain grateful for the support from our community and donors.

In October, we were asked to help the wildlife department to carry out an important sterilisation camp in Kaza, Spiti. The street dogs in this town face extreme hardship during the long winter season with lack of food. This means they often resort to chasing and attacking wildlife. Stray dogs in this Himalayan region threaten and kill various wildlife species, including snow leopards and lynx. They also hunt smaller species like marmots, ibex, the woolly hare, Himalayan fox, and blue sheep. Therefore, by sterilising the dog population, we are indirectly helping to protect these important wildlife species. We sterilised 100 dogs initially, and plant to return in the Spring of 2025 to carry out a much larger scale project, covering the entire Spiti Valley, with the aim of sterilising as many dogs as possible.

Manali Strays was also selected by Mission Rabies to take part in their Rabies Action Week (25th to 29th November). They donated 1500 doses of rabies vaccine for us to use in our locality. Rabies remains a huge problem in India, and in the rural villages where Manali Strays operates, rabies is often overlooked and under reported. By spreading awareness, educating the local communities and vaccinating as many dogs as possible, we hope to eradicate this deadly disease from the area once and for all.

Here are some of our Main Achievements

Rescue and Rehabilitation

Rescued 276 stray animals, including 256 dogs, 13 cats, and 2 injured Owls, 1 raven, 1 parakeet, 1 pigeon, 1 calf, and 1 Rhesus macaque.

Successfully found homes for 14 dogs and cats locally.

Other Veterinary Services

Conducted 565 sterilization surgeries, contributing significantly to population control.

Treated 579 pets for medical problems, with 335 additional follow-up treatments.

Administered 693 rabies vaccinations.

Community Engagement

Organized 6 awareness workshops in schools, educating over 600 attendees on animal welfare, rabies prevention, and responsible pet ownership.

Facility Improvements

We improved our surgical suite, so that the operating room and prep/recovery room are separate but joined by a double swing door. What used to be a treatment room for pets is now the operating room. A separate room is now for autoclaving and storing surgical kits. A door has been made directly from the prep room to the back of the facility where the kennels are located making it easier to move dogs for surgery. A treatment area has been created that includes our small diagnostic equipment (microscope, haematology and biochemistry analysers, other laboratory items). This has improved our workflow and made things far more efficient and streamlined.

Challenges

Extreme Weather Conditions: The summer months are very hot, the monsoon is very wet and winter is very cold. Buildings in rural India have no double glazing or central heating so trying to keep sick animals warm is extremely difficult.
Limited Resources: With an increasing number of rescues, our operational costs for medical supplies, food, and transportation have risen significantly.

We are extremely gratieful to our donors, volunteers, and the local community for their unwavering support. Together, we are making a difference for the animals in Manali and far beyond.

Catching dogs in Spiti for sterilisation

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Aug 3, 2024
August 2024 Update

By Becky Metcalf | Co-founder and project leader

Manali Strays and HSI India

The past four months have been packed with stray animal rescues, sterilizing dogs, helping pets received the medical treatment they need, and improving our small organization.

Here in the mountains, electricity supply is very unreliable, which is disastrous for an animal hospital that can be in the middle of a surgery when the power cuts out without warning, or the inability to access hot water or equipment for cleaning and sterilizing. But finally, we have been able to install a 15 KVA generator that automatically kicks in when there is a power cut. This allows us to keep our diagnostic equipment running, fans for cooling and heaters (during the winter) on, which are so important for sick and injured animals recovering from surgery, road traffic accidents and many other life-threatening conditions. We were so fortunate to have the generator funded by The Serenity Trust after they visited our rescue centre earlier in the year.

Our education program has continued, with our team visiting several local schools, teaching children of all ages about animal welfare, rabies awareness, and how to correctly (and incorrectly) interact with dogs.

More recently, we have just finished hosting a team from Humane Society International (HIS) India. They work to sterilize street dogs in various locations across India and offer training sessions around the world. Although our staff have been running sterilization programs for ten years, we are always eager to learn new things and find ways to improve whenever possible, So, we welcomed the opportunity to host the HIS team who spent ten days with our staff advising us on certain aspects of our work and helping us to improve. And the HIS team picked up a few things from us to implement themselves.

From 1st April to 31^st July 2024 we achieved the following:

Street animals rescued - 220 with an averge stay of 14 days at Manali Strays, being treated every day.
Dogs sterilized - 348
Pets treated - 590
Rabies vaccines administered - 512

Our rescue work is one of our most important program other than the sterilisation and rabies vaccination program. This is because Manali Strays is the only full rescue organisation in Kullu valley with diagnostics, our own veterinary surgeon and vet techs.

Without the continued support of pople like yourself, each year hundreds of street animals and pets would have to suffer, unable to access the veterinary care they desperatly need.

Thank you for your help over the years and we hope to continue being in your thoughts.

Manali Strays and HSI India

Becky with Kaju, a rescue calf

Jogi with Coco, our rescued Rhesus Macaque

Treatment of a street dog with a tumour

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Apr 8, 2024
2024 is off to a great start

By Becky Metcalf | Co-founder & Project Leader

The newly installed x-ray machine at Manali Strays

Dear Friend,

The year has started off very well for Manali Strays. Since we started our small rescue charity in 2020 our aim has always been to provide the best veterinary care possible to the animals in the area. This involves being able to diagnose their problems quickly but as accurately as possible. Unfortunately for many of the medical conditions we see, this involves the use of quite expensive diagnostic equipment. However, we have been lucky that each year we have managed to secure funding for one piece of vital equipment. In 2022 it was haematology analyser, in 2023 we bought a biochemistry analyser, and this year, we were generously bought a digital x-ray machine. This was such a huge relief for us, as we previously had to take dogs elsewhere for x-rays and the settings and positioning was never optimal.

We did have to do a bit of work to enable us to get the x-ray. For example, we needed to construct a new room with 9” walls and lead protection to conform to India’s Atomic Energy Regulatory Board. But as we were building, we extended the project to include a storage room and a new examination room specifically for any potentially infectious cases.

We have already been able to diagnose a poor pet dog with a needle stuck in his throat after he swallowed it with his dinner. Without our own x-ray machine, it would have taken much longer to diagnose and the dog would have suffered immensely.

After the success of the MC Kullu sterilisation camp in December last year, the MC Manali also requested us to sterilise 100 dogs in Manali, with further dogs planned. This is great news because it means that the local governments are starting to take notice of the street dog problem and are trying to help us come up with solutions in a humane manner.

Earlier this year, we were fortunate to have a volunteer for Australia work with us. Dr Michael does a great deal of charity work for different organisations, so we were very lucky for him to take time out of his busy schedule to show us some diagnostic techniques using our new x-ray and some new surgical techniques. In fact, this visit was so useful, one of our founders, Becky went off to Melbourne to visit different veterinary clinics, hospitals and animal rescue centres. The Manali Strays’ founders are always trying to learn new techniques, find better ways of running the organisation, and trying to gather knowledge from veterinary and rescue establishments that can be introduced and implemented at Manali Strays. Becky also had two days of one-to-one ultrasound training at a clinic in Melbourne for use in the future when Manali Strays can acquire their own ultrasound machine.

Koko, our rescues baby monkey is still with us and growing up to be a mischievous teenager. But we also had to rescue another, older monkey who was electrocuted. Luckily she survived her injuries and is healing very well. e slowwly introduced her and Koko to each other, and were very happy to see them bonding. They take part in mutual grooming of each other and have bother become friends with the two cats we have on site. All four animals are often asleep together or grooming each other.

We have many plans for this year in terms of rabies vaccination drives and sterilisation camps, so we are excited to see what 2024 has in store for us. As always, none of this work is possible without the generosity of our supporters like yourself, so thank you, and we hope your continued support can help us achieve so much more.

Dr Michael teaching us some correct positioning

Becky visited several clinics in Melbourne

Koko, Meko (cat) and Rocket resting together

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