Animals

6-30-13 to 7-1-13

Horse

Small horses/ponies pull tangas (two-wheeled) carts here in Nalanda and surrounding areas. When I rode my bicycle to a neighboring village, Bargaon, I saw some boys washing a tanga horse.  It had sores all over its body, and an especially bad gaping wound on its hip bone that showed bone and muscle.  I prayed that it would die soon. On my return from that village, I saw that the boys had plastered something blue over all of the 20 or so wounds.

The next day it was still standing. I was glad to see that it had not been hitched back up to the cart. On looking closer at it, I saw that it had a broken foot. Again I prayed for its death to ease its suffering.

I passed it again on the next day as I went for some Hindi tutoring. The horse was lying on the ground with a plastic sheet under it.  I thought that it had died, but it swished its tail. On the return trip, it was lying on its other side. Later that afternoon, I happened to take another trip into that village. The horse looked dead with its mouth slightly open and teeth showing. I had the thought that it finally left this world only to be surprised when it lifted its head to bite at some flies. Again I prayed for its release from the suffering on this earth.

Dog

30 June 2013 An orange-furred dog had befriended me during my past visits to Nalanda. I would generally give it any leftover food that I had. The same dog now is very old and barely has any fur. I think she has had many puppies during her lifetime. I came back to my room and found her on my porch. I think she may have remembered me and began to beg for food. Not eating meals in my room anymore, I really don’t have any food for her. I did manage to scrounge up a few crumbs to give her and she seemed to appreciate them. Today I plan to buy some butter cookies for her, since I don’t think there is anything like dog food here.

11 July 2013 There are other dogs here, too. An old lame dog comes around with the one above. I try to feed them both. 

I rode my bicycle back to my guesthouse after breakfast this morning. I heard the dogs whimpering, so I dropped off my bags I was carrying, grabbed some rupees and went to the closest shop to buy biscuits. I haven’t seen these dogs in over a week since I was down in Tamil Nadu. I got back to my guesthouse feeling all good about having something to feed the dogs. I took the little package of biscuits and greeted the dogs. The old one limped over to me. The second dog remained lying on the grass. When I looked closely, I saw that it had a gaping wound. I immediately called the doctor that I know, but with limited Hindi, he said he’d come by in one hour (must be Indian time).  I sat for an hour looking through my Hindi-English dictionary trying to find some words that would convey my request for euthanasia for this dog. I couldn’t find that exact word, but I did find “sedate, lifeless, cease, syringe, make, painless, sore, dying, dead, humane, kill, stop, and suffer.”

The poor beast moved from its spot under the bushes to an old garbage pile over by the monk’s kitchen. I thought maybe the dog was hungry and had tried to find food, so I grabbed my few biscuit/cookies and went over to it. The wound looked worse and it didn’t look like it could eat. I couldn’t do anything but tear up and walk away. 

The doctor finally arrived from the village 13km away. He apologized for his lateness. He took one look at the dog and the picture I had taken and said “Very bad.” Then he read through my list of words and said “10 minutes. I get medicine.”  As he zoomed off on his motorcycle, I thought, “What have I done.” Now this poor beast will get medicine to prolong his life.” But then again, I thought that maybe this would reduce its suffering.

The doctor came back with a topical spray, an herbal spray, “For Comprehensive Topical Cure” for cows, dogs, horses, and sheep, and he pointed to the picture of the dog for me to comprehend. Spraying it on the dog made the dog stand up and become defensive. I used some biscuits to keep it near us as the doctor kept spraying. We waited until some workmen came around and had them hold a thick bamboo pole over the dog’s neck. It pushed against the pole with its injured paw, but the doctor managed to get two injections into the dog. Then he gave me some pills to give to the dog morning and night and handed me the spray to spray on the dog 3-4 times each day.  So for about $10 this dog has received some medical attention. I hope its suffering is eased and not prolonged and I hope I can find it everyday to give it medicine.