Infirm animals are put back on their feet here

Coimbatore, July 23 (UNI) Pet and domestic animals, once part of the family, are unceremoniously abandoned once they became frail, ill or injured. But an exception to this human tendency is found in an animal shelter run by the India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN) a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) located at the Mavanhalla near Mudumalai Game Sanctuary in Nilgiris district.

Around 300 handicapped, injured and abandoned animals including cows, bulls, baffaloes, goats, monkeys, dogs, horses and donkeys are being taken care of during their last days of life in this shelter.

Mr Nigel Otter (44), the Managing Trusteee of IPAN, showing these animals to UNI said each animal had its own pathetic story. This ten-year old unique animal shelter accomodates over 40 cows 30 bullocks, 25 buffaloes, 12 goats, about 25 monkeys, over 40 dogs,30 ponies, horses and mules and over 95 donkeys.

Seeing the selfless service of Mr Otter, an Anglo Indian, the Animal Welfare Board of India appointed him as an honorary animal welfare officer.

He said they receive calls from public about the injured animals hit by vehicles on the National Highway-67 between Ooty and Mysore. The shelter also treats injured wild animals and release them into the wild after they recouperate.

Narrating the story of a monkey sheltered here, he said the four-year-old female Donnet Macaque was rescued from Varkala, Kerala by Bulgarian tourists Vera and Gorge Koller. The monkey was tied with a chain around the waist to a pole between two trees restricting its free movement. The chain had bruised its stomach.

Wary of strangers, it stays in the monkey enclosure and does not mingle with other monkeys. The Macaque is now healthy and also ''carrying''.

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