Rescue and Rehoming Program

Rescuing and helping suffering animals is at the very core of Help in Suffering and has been since 1980. On average HIS receives about 10,000 call a year about suffering animals and we rescue about 6000 animals needing treatment and care at the HIS hospital compound. HIS rescues animals that have been in accidents on the roads, hit by trains, some are sick with serious diseases such as distemper; some have cancers; many dogs have mange; some animals fall into open drains and wells and need rescuing. More than 40% of our budget is spent on rescuing and treating animals and Help in Suffering Rescue Teams are out doing this from early morning to late night every day. Our skilled and dedicated teams provide immediate relief where they can and carry the rescued animal in our ambulance to our hospital. We have 6 ambulances for smaller animals and 1 large ambulance with hydraulic ramp for camels, horses, donkeys and cattle. Rescued animals remain in our hospital receiving treatment until recovered when they are released, adopted, sent to gaushalas (cow shelters) in the case of cattle, or returned to guardians as appropriate.

Re-homing / Adoption Programme – We always have puppies, kittens and other animals that require new, loving caring home. We have a fully streamlined adoption and fostering process with counselling, training and monitoring to help new families care for their new family member. What’s more, we offer a lifetime of care for adopted pets at our Veterinary (OPD) Clinic. Fostering is a particularly valuable and rewarding way to help our work by taking a recovering animal out of our hospital and helping it to fully recover by caring for it in your home.

 

Animal Birth Control & Immunization Against Rabies Program

Our Animal Birth Control & Immunization Program has made Jaipur Rabies Free.

Rabies kills about 25,000 people in India every year and 95% of human rabies cases are caused by a rabid dog’s bite. For many years, the Jaipur Municipal Corporation cruelly poisoned the street dogs of Jaipur with strychnine. However, rabies was not eliminated. The only humane way to address the dreaded rabies problem is by vaccinating the street dogs and controlling their numbers by surgical sterilisation so they do not reproduce. 

The purpose of the ABC Programme is to create a friendly, stable, rabies-free street dog population. Every week, street dogs are humanely caught from a pre-identified location. At our hospital, they are vaccinated, sterilised, and identified with ear mark. After their recovery, they are returned to the place from which they were captured on the street. 

We concentrate our ABC sterilisation efforts on females since they are responsible for population growth. However, to increase coverage of rabies vaccination of the street dog population, we also catch, vaccinate and mark male street dogs. Currently, more than 3,500 street dogs are sterilized and vaccinated each year and more than 5,000 are vaccinated. 

Our ABC and Vaccination Programme has brought down human dog-bite cases from 7.2 per thousand human population in 1998 to 2.2 per thousand now. More than 150,000 dogs have passed through the Programme and we have averted more than 500 human rabies deaths and 3,60,000 dog-bite injuries since 1994. An independent assessment based on WHO guidelines found that for every $1 spent on our ABC work, the societal benefit to the people of Jaipur has been US $58.4.

Our Animal Birth Control (ABC) and Vaccination Programme, which started in 1994 under WHO-WSPA Guidelines, has reduced the number of human rabies cases in Jaipur to nearly zero.

The street dogs of Jaipur are healthier and in better condition than those in cities without an ABC programme. Visitors to Jaipur report the street dogs here look extremely healthy and friendly, and this is in sharp contrast with other cities and towns where ABC programmes are not in operation. Most people in Jaipur accept the presence of the street dogs, knowing they are now safe and healthy.

More than 70% of female street dogs are now sterilized and vaccinated against rabies. More than 70% of the entire street dog population has been vaccinated against rabies. Both these figures are above those cited necessary to control the population and rabies transmission.

We have the most comprehensive data on street dog biology and the impact of an ABC Programme anywhere. Help in Suffering has continuously collected data on the effects of our Programme.

As a result of the expertise we have developed and reputation we have earned through this ABC work we have:-

  • Assisted the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) in producing its standard operating procedures for ABC programmes.
  • Participated and shared knowledge in conferences and workshops of the FAO, Commonwealth Veterinary Association, Humane Society Expo, Association for the Prevention and Control of Rabies in India, and other forums.
  • Shown scientifically that :-
    • ABC work will reduce the street dog population by at least 50%;
    • dramatically reduce human rabies cases;
    • reduce human dog bites by 5-600 cases per month;
    • improve the health of all the street dogs;
    • and that killing street dogs is the worst method of population control.
  • Demonstrated novel population surveying techniques.

The ABC Programme is funded by Dogs’ Trust Worldwide, a leading canine welfare charity. Their support for several years, and that of all our friends, has enabled this vital animal welfare, human health and One Health project to succeed.

Camel Welfare Program Jaipur and Camel Rescue Center Bassi

Our Camel Welfare Programme helps the poorest village communities, which have no access to veterinary services for their working camels. If a sick camel cannot work at the brick kiln or cart goods over long distances under a burning sun and alongside speeding vehicles, its owner will not earn his daily wage.

Camels are used to pull carts in and around Jaipur. They are mostly owned by poor families, living on the fringes with hardly any veterinary services available to them locally. We set up the Help in Suffering Camel Welfare Project in 2001 with the support of volunteer veterinary surgeons Richard and Emma Morris to address these problems. We now have two units — in Jaipur and Bassi — to treat and admit camels in both urban and rural areas. Nose peg wounds, nasty road accidents, and poor, uneducated owners are the main challenges that we face.

JAIPUR CAMEL PROJECT

Based at the Help in Suffering hospital, the Jaipur Camel Project tends to the welfare and veterinary needs of the working camels across the city. The team treats sick and injured camels, educates owners on good husbandry, and fixes reflectors to carts to reduce the risk of night-time road accidents. Emergency visits are also made across the city whenever required. The Project treats over 250 camels during routine visits and may attend 15-20 emergency cases every month. Occasionally, injured camels requiring daily treatment are admitted to the HIS hospital in Jaipur.

With a specially designed mobile clinic, the camel team visits areas where camel owners commonly gather for work. It also sets up camp at Jaisalmer and at the Pushkar Camel Fair once in a year to cater to the veterinary needs of camels there.

CAMEL RESCUE CENTRE, BASSI

In 2011, we set up HIS Camel Rescue Centre (CRC), Jaipur’s first dedicated camel treatment centre, in the village of Bassi 30 kms from the city with funds from the ELSU Foundation (Switzerland) because we realized at the start of the Camel Welfare Project that the Jaipur camel unit was not fully equipped to treat the draught camels working in rural areas, especially around brick kilns, and in transporting goods to the city.

It has the facility to admit camels for treatment, and to provide them long-term care under a resident veterinary surgeon and support staff. The CRC team also operates a mobile clinic to provide veterinary care and advice to camel owners in a large number of villages around Bassi. Between 250–350 animals are treated every month.

CRC, Bassi has expanded its work to include treatment of all types of animals in nearby areas, and has been equipped, with help from supporters in Australia, with an ambulance with hydraulic lift to allow for easier and more welfare-friendly rescue of sick and injured camels and other large animals.

Our camel welfare work is funded by the Marchig Animal Welfare Trust (Scotland), SPANA (UK and Australia), Susanna Wachtl (ELSU, Switzerland), Animal Aid Abroad Inc. (Australia), and Aspi Rusi Sattha.

 

Help in Suffering Veterinary Clinic


The Help in Suffering Veterinary Clinic for pets and production animals sees a brisk flow of patients every day, which receive treatment, vaccinated and dewormed from our veterinary team. The clinic’s busy-ness is testament to its success. In return for their pet’s treatment, pet owners are asked to make a donation at the time of treatment. The donations received from pet owners are used by Help in Suffering to help the treatment of rescued, suffering street animals which have no owners and would receive no veterinary attention.
We encourage all pet owners to donate generously so we may better help less fortunate animals. 
The Clinic treats 50+ pet animals every day

Clinic Hours DAILY
09.00 am – 12.30 pm
Shelter Hours DAILY
8.00 am – 5.00 pm

Veterinary and Welfare Training Programme

To promote animal welfare in Jaipur and beyond

For many years Help in Suffering has promoted improved animal welfare by encouraging, advising, training and educating others interested in welfare our methods, training our own staff, encouraging students, or writing reports of our work for publication. 

Early in this century we received a grant from the Humane Society International (HSI) to help us help other groups to develop their skills. After the expiry of this grant, we have tried to continue to help others improve, and by doing so we hope we also improve in knowledge and skills.

Help in Suffering staff have helped in training sessions held by the AWBI and others and have participated in various courses and workshops. We encourage veterinary students to gain experience with us. We strongly promote teamwork so that we may learn from each other.

Help in Suffering has added to the formal body of scientific literature, mainly about ABC matters and street dog biology, and in contributing to publications such as the Animal Welfare Board of India’s Standard Operating Procedures for ABC work.