<p>Animal rescue centres in the City are struggling for survival owing to lack of funds and human resources. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Bangalore has less than 10 such centres, far below the required number, and not even one of them is run by the government. A majority of such rescue centres are managed by a group of individuals or a trust with little or no financial assistance from government.<br /><br />They depend on contributions from individuals and private organisations to sustain themselves. An animal centre, on an average, receives five calls a day.<br /><br />Owing to laborious nature of the job and meagre salary, it is often difficult to find workers, and even volunteers. The employees are paid between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 a month for about eight hours of work a day. With centres being run on donations, there is not much scope for salary revision either. Lack of resources coupled with staff shortage has crippled the rescue activities.<br /><br /> “Some people work on contract basis and some are trainees. In the past 20 years, three women have remained with us and the rest have worked for short duration,” said Dr B C Ramakrishnan, President, Karuna Animal Welfare Association. <br /><br />Nature of work<br /><br />An attender at these centres is required to perform various tasks such as cleaning their shelter, bathing and feeding them and dressing the wound at regular intervals in case of an injured animal.<br /><br />“The job requires immense training. To begin with, one has to be compassionate and genuine towards the well being of the animal. Many a times, an injured dog will be ferocious. Anything that stays close to its body is taken as a possible threat,” said Sudha Narayanan of CARE, an animal welfare centre. <br /><br />“We are ethically bound to attend to the calls we receive even though there is lack of space or staff. There is no question of possibly leaving the dog or cat to suffer further,” Sudha added. <br /><br />The stray dogs are often kept in groups in order to keep their natural habitat intact. Their shelter needs to be cleaned in order to maintain a healthy environment. “They are used to living in groups and need constant company. If we separate them, their mental state becomes worse. Hence, we use community canals, unless the dog is infected with rabies,” Dr Ramakrishnan added. <br /><br />According to the census conducted by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike in 2007, the City has 1,83,758 stray dogs.</p>
<p>Animal rescue centres in the City are struggling for survival owing to lack of funds and human resources. <br /><br /></p>.<p>Bangalore has less than 10 such centres, far below the required number, and not even one of them is run by the government. A majority of such rescue centres are managed by a group of individuals or a trust with little or no financial assistance from government.<br /><br />They depend on contributions from individuals and private organisations to sustain themselves. An animal centre, on an average, receives five calls a day.<br /><br />Owing to laborious nature of the job and meagre salary, it is often difficult to find workers, and even volunteers. The employees are paid between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 a month for about eight hours of work a day. With centres being run on donations, there is not much scope for salary revision either. Lack of resources coupled with staff shortage has crippled the rescue activities.<br /><br /> “Some people work on contract basis and some are trainees. In the past 20 years, three women have remained with us and the rest have worked for short duration,” said Dr B C Ramakrishnan, President, Karuna Animal Welfare Association. <br /><br />Nature of work<br /><br />An attender at these centres is required to perform various tasks such as cleaning their shelter, bathing and feeding them and dressing the wound at regular intervals in case of an injured animal.<br /><br />“The job requires immense training. To begin with, one has to be compassionate and genuine towards the well being of the animal. Many a times, an injured dog will be ferocious. Anything that stays close to its body is taken as a possible threat,” said Sudha Narayanan of CARE, an animal welfare centre. <br /><br />“We are ethically bound to attend to the calls we receive even though there is lack of space or staff. There is no question of possibly leaving the dog or cat to suffer further,” Sudha added. <br /><br />The stray dogs are often kept in groups in order to keep their natural habitat intact. Their shelter needs to be cleaned in order to maintain a healthy environment. “They are used to living in groups and need constant company. If we separate them, their mental state becomes worse. Hence, we use community canals, unless the dog is infected with rabies,” Dr Ramakrishnan added. <br /><br />According to the census conducted by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike in 2007, the City has 1,83,758 stray dogs.</p>
