Orphaned and in trauma, pets find shelter, finally eat

Gurgaon: The Singhs’ four pet dogs, mute witnesses to the Sunday night horror, became the subject of a tussle over who would take custody of them till MP and former Union minister Maneka Gandhi stepped in after animal rights activists brought it to her notice.
The pets, three Pugs and a Lhasa, were found drenched in blood when they were rescued from Prakash Singh’s Uppal Southend house on Monday morning, when the deaths of Prakash, his wife Sonu, daughter Aditi and son Aditya were discovered. The dogs were taken to a neighbour’s house but the traumatised animals refused to eat and tried to run out of the house the entire night to the Singh household where they have always lived. They were Aditi’s pets. A member of an animal rights group said the dogs were aged between 3 and 9 and two of them have serious medical issues.
On Tuesday morning, after the Singhs’ last rites, a member of the immediate family and a friend of Aditi’s tried to claim custody of the pets. The relatives wanted to sell the dogs on OLX while Aditi’s friend wanted to keep them because they provided the final connection with her. The pets were eventually shifted on Tuesday to a shelter home run by a member of the Animal Welfare Board of India out of concern about their wellbeing. Aditi’s friend, the animal rights group member pointed out, was a college student and not in a position to take proper care of the pets.
The dogs are now at the shelter home – All Creatures Great and Small – at Mangar on Gugaon-Faridabad Road.
“Maneka Gandhi coordinated with Gurgaon police and the Singhs’ immediate family for an urgent transfer of custody of the pets to People for Animal (PFA) volunteers. The dogs are now in safe custody of Anjali Gopalan, an AWBI board member,” said Antara Naik of PFA.
Gopalan said, “The elder two, Lola and Mouli, seem most distressed and traumatised. Both have been crying in their sleep, whereas Pippa and Blue are much calmer. The dogs have finally eaten properly and are resting well. They have a long journey and our goal solely is to help them come out of the horrible experience of witnessing the murder of their own family. They were found sitting next to the bodies drenched in the blood of their loved ones.”