Our first rescue operation has failed

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Got a distress call at around 11 am on Dec 12th while I was in district court to address some personal issues. The person from the other side said that there is this female calf ; around 8-9 months old, seems to be very sick & not able to walk; He said the rain is impending & she is lying in open, Can you please do something?

Initially I was a little skeptical as I had been getting fake distress calls where people were just trying to abandon their cattle. I immediately sent my worker to have a look. He reported back that the calf was indeed serious; She seemed to have eaten something; might be plastic; her stomach was bloated & she was throwing blood in her poo. In addition to that she had met with an accident & had got her shoulder dislocated. Understanding the urgency of the situation, we immediately moved her to my shelter. After the court attendance, I was supposed to travel out of town to address some personal emergency so by the time we got the calf in my shelter; I was already on board the bus. It had started raining; with continuous disruptions in signals, the next few hours went by in trying to reach the vets to come to my shelter & attend the calf. Did succeed to reach couple of vets & requested them to visit immediately. They promised but due to bad weather just couldn’t make it. In the mean time, my worker prepared some home remedies for the calf & gave them to her.

Next day the vet came & gave her some antibiotics & energy boosters as she wasn’t eating or drinking anything. All this while, my worker continuously attended her & helped her move in & out of the shed so that she can sun bathe & can also get some physical exercise. Next day when I reached back, since she wasn’t eating or drinking anything, we decided to give her glucose as she suffered from severe dehydration. She took couple of glucose bottles in addition to the liver tonic & multi-vitamins calmly but was in continuous pain as was visible from the tears which were coming out of her dehydrated eyes. The day passed & night beckoned; severe infection, internal intestinal bleeding & rigorous pain due to the dislocation of her shoulder, the poor soul took her last breath at around 2 in the morning on Dec 15th with unbearable pain in her eyes but without disturbing any of her shed mates. With first light of the morning, I & my worker took her to the nearby forest & buried her.

It’s heartbreaking when a rescue operation fails but it also gives us the motivation to succeed in the future rescue operations & to look out for any rescue opportunities to break even the score.

Please don’t abandon your cattle especially the young calves & stop using plastic immediately… Everybody deserves to live fully & die gracefully!!!

One thought on “Our first rescue operation has failed

  1. Hi Sunil,
    It’s really heart breaking to try to save these desperate animals. You did your best. Please keep trying. Don’t give up.
    kamal

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