Shortly after Dr. Biplab Kanti Dasgupta, who was showing symptoms of COVID-19, was taken to an isolation ward, his wife and his son too began to run high temperature. It was then that his another son, locked down in Bengaluru, called up Love n Care, a Kolkata-based shelter that looks after abandoned and injured animals.
“The son called to say that two dogs needed shelter. When I asked him what kind of dogs, he said one of them was a Spitz — and the moment he said that, I tried to cut the call saying we looked after only homeless animals. Then he pleaded with me to hear him out,” said Susmita Roy, an executive member of Love n Care.
It was a sad situation: the caller’s father was already in hospital and it was a matter of time before his mother and brother were also admitted in isolation wards. Therefore, there would be no one to take care of their two dogs: the Spitz and a mongrel.
Ms. Roy put up a post on Facebook seeking advice on what could be done. One man was kind enough to donate a set of personal protective equipment (PPE). “We looked up videos on YouTube to learn how to use PPE, following which our volunteers rescued the dogs,” Ms. Roy said.
Dr. Dasgupta, an assistant director in the Health department in charge of stores and equipment, died shortly afterwards — the first doctor in West Bengal to succumb to COVID-19 infection. His two dogs are now being looked after by the shelter in Maheshtala, which at the moment houses 230 animals.
During the lockdown, its volunteers have been feeding 200-300 stray dogs daily — dogs not in residential areas but in commercial or ‘office’ districts, where the animals survive off the generosity of canteens and shopkeepers and office-goers.
Besides, the organisation has also been feeding the horses idling at the Maidan opposite Victoria Memorial. In normal times, these horses are at the service of tourists taking buggy rides around the Maidan. “We supply hay to them on a regular basis. We would also like to feed them carrots and grams, but these are difficult times. When horse owners themselves have very little to eat, we cannot be sure if the carrots or grams reach the horses,” Ms. Roy said.
When asked if the number of animals meeting with accidents has come down due to the lockdown, she said: “On the contrary. Because there are hardly any people on the road, animals have started sitting in the middle of the roads and vehicles — because there is hardly any traffic — drive at a great speed. Only the other day we got two dogs that were badly injured, almost dead.”