Rescue respite for animals, even late in the night

From rescuing Siri, an indie puppy accidentally stuck in tar, to surgically removing 47kg of garbage and plastic from Raja, the bull, ResQ Charitable Trust has grown from a small onsite rescue operation unit in 2007 to a full-fledged street animal rescue, rehabilitation and research centre.
It all began when Neha Panchamiya and Tanya Kane tried to save a dog with distemper in 2006, when Pune had little to offer in the area of trauma emergency service for animals. "We had found a viral distemper case, but no help for over 18 hours worked as a catalyst to begin this organization," said Panchamiya, the president of the NGO.

Panchamiya had received a message from Kane, an acquaintance then and her partner now, about finding a dog with distemper and needed a place for shelter. "I believe I was the only one who ended up helping her out that night. We eventually lost the dog because we could not find a vet to attend to him. We were then young and furious at people who refused us. The next day, we realised pointing fingers was not the right thing to do. And that is when ResQ began," said Panchamiya.

The NGO rescued 120 animals in 2007 and over 10,000 in 2017. It now attends to all kinds of animal emergencies, involving dogs, cats, cows, buffaloes, horses, donkeys, pigs, rabbits and birds. It also rehabilitated nine rescued elephants in the past few years as a transit facility.

"Apart from rescues and medical aid, we recently collaborated with Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment towards a rabies-free tomorrow," said Panchamiya.

Besides starting organic farming at the NGO to feed nutritious food to the animals it saves, ResQ began attending to night emergencies from April 2017. "ResQ's initiative to admit emergency cases (like accident victims) late in the night has given us a ray of hope," said a city-based animal welfare volunteer.

Recently, the NGO developed the online ResQ Management System (RMS) and 'Rescue Webline' to increase the ease of reporting and faster response to animal emergencies.