Amid lockdown, over 30 animals rescued in Noida

While the people of the city have locked themselves indoors in a bid contain the spread of the coronavirus disease Covid-19, Noida’s animal shelter has continued

While the people of the city have locked themselves indoors in a bid contain the spread of the coronavirus disease Covid-19, Noida’s animal shelter has continued its rescue operations, with over 30 big and small animals having been rescued from different areas since the lockdown began.

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Officials, however, also pointed out that this is also the first time in their tenure that none of the cases that required rescue involved ‘traumatic injury’ or ‘accidents’.

According to the officials, since March 22 and 23, they have rescued 26 dogs—both community and stray, 12 oxen, bulls and cows, two pigeons and one monkey.

“Of all the dogs that we have rescued, two are of pedigree breeds—one Great Dane, one Labrador retriever, they were both suffering from tumours and were in great pain. We suspect that they were abandoned as the person who called and handed them over to us said that they found the animals on road. All other cases were also of similar nature, the dogs were either too sick or were infested with maggots,” said Vineet Arora, a caretaker and para-vet at the animal shelter.

Officials said that unlike normal or non-locked down days when they received typically 50 calls a day, the number of helpline calls had dropped to five or seven per day.

“This is the first time I have seen that none of the cases reported involved any traumatic injury; it’s obvious that there are no vehicles on the road and thus no accidents. It seems that the lockdown is good for the animals,” said Dr Abhishek Dabar, a veterinary doctor at the animal shelter.

The district’s only public animal shelter at Sector 94 is home to about 1,495 animals, of which over 900 are dogs, about 470 big animals that include cows, bulls, calves, donkeys and horses, and a number of birds.

He added that currently they also have enough stock of painkillers, antibiotics, saline, ointments, injections, bandages, and other essential medicines and food items for all different type of animals.

Meanwhile, in what seemed like Noida’s urban wildlife claiming what once was its habitat, an un-spooked Nilgai or blue bull was spotted roaming freely outside a shopping mall in Sector 18. According to the forest department, Gautam Budh Nagar has an estimated population of 1,094 Nilgais, who, apart from blackbucks, are the other species of antelopes found in the district.

“That entire region was once a natural habitat and the animals were shifted to other urban forests, including the last herd from the botanic garden. The nilgai must have come from the urban forests and fringes that are beyond Sector 45. The roads are empty and that must have given confidence to the animal to roam free and unafraid,” said Pramod Kumar Srivastava, divisional forest officer, Gautam Budh Nagar.