“It is their World too, Help us to help them”
This has been the slogan and mantra of Blue Cross India since its inception. Blue Cross India was emanated in 1959 for animal welfare. It began small but it has now become the nation’s largest animal welfare organization with its nation-wide activities like educational programs about animals, adaptathon, animal birth control, doctoring and providing shelter to animals.
Desperate Street to Exotic Park:
Money and space had been big constraints for the Blue Cross, despite these impediments they have rescued about 3000 cattle and provided shelter, having reached suffering animals 40-50 km away with their ambulance. Very often they rescue animals found in public areas like airports and schools. Lost pets have also been benefited by re-homing.
At any time 400 to 500 animals exist in the shelters of Blue Cross. The list includes birds, white mice, horses, donkeys, squirrels, deer and even a land monitor. All stray cattle abandoned by their owners are handled to the Blue Cross by Corporation of Madras. Unclaimed animals are saved and relocated in pinjarapoles at their own expense. The Blue cross has made a struggle with the corporation and prevented 700 bullocks and over 2400 cattle from being slaughtered. These activities done by the organization have been done with utmost care for the fellow living things, for a noble cause, even though it put the organization under pressure and struggle.
Animal Birth Control (ABC):
The Blue Cross is the only organization in India to conduct the ABC programme in three districts, Kanchipuram, Tiruvallur and Chennai. When the central government slowed its fund for the operation, Marchig Animal Welfare stepped in with funds and the program moved forward enduring all hardships and obstacles. With limited resources, the organization did not just conduct its regular program without hiccups but also shared its resources with other organizations. It conducted training programs in many remote places and donated 400 spay hooks (surgical instruments) to Mckee Project in Costa Rica to aid their program. It gave away dog cages to animal welfare organizations in Tirupati. In Jan 2004, 1040 animals were neutered and over 1600 were medicated with anti-rabies vaccine. The ABC program was extended to many places with the help of field pioneers who donated space in a resort to conduct surgeries, an air conditioned ambulance for sterilization operation outside the city and a municipal chairman who stopped poisoning street dogs and provided space behind the municipal office with required facilities for the make-shift surgery and post-operative care. The Blue Cross sterilized over 2476 animals in 9 years till 1998 and even the pet owners have been benefitted without any charge. The numbers and statistics are countless to mention all the services of the organization.
Medical treatment in hospitals:
The veterinary hospitals at Adyar and Guindy have been serving enormous number of animals till date. It has treated 32482 and 498 animals respectively by working for all 365 days. 25232 animals were outpatients and 4823 were rescued and provided shelters.
Adoptathon:
It is quite a tedious job for a single organization to shelter all the stray animals in a country. Every individual adopting an animal will surely be a solution towards giving shelter to street dogs and also controlling birth rate. Blue Cross India knew this very well. They adapted the concept of adoption and spread the message for adopting our own Indian dogs which costs the owner zero maintenance unlike an Alsatian, a Doberman, a Poodle, a Dalmatian or a Greyhound. 1010 animals were re-homed through adoptions. 125 dogs, 692 puppies and 191 kittens were provided a home in this way.
Blue Cross India has been doing a selfless and noble job since 1959. Animals are a part of our world and these fellow beings can’t be neglected. Without them, we will not be. It is in our hands to help those animals by helping Blue Cross.