The Leopard is back Mt.Abu

Last nite  our spotted visitor came back after a spell of
almost a year. He claimed six of my mongrels, during our winter vacations last
year. He's now back on the prowl. He took my female bitch
"Cut Ear" around 12.45 am from our compound The Abode.  The rest of
the pack Rover, Saddy, ( she always looks sad) Tithee ( always showing his
beautiful set of teeth), and Mercury ( proud mum of a pack of  6 puppies ) set up a mournful raucous at
the parting of one of their kind. Right now the temp is about 7 degrees in the
house and my pye-dogs are huddled together on the roof of the house, alert to
the slightest movement and sounds emerging from the surrounding terrain.

The Willy leopard has them all on edge, as long as they stay in a
pack and do not stray away they are pretty safe, the leopard will not attack
them if they are in a pack. Anyway I’m resigned to the fact that sooner or
later Mr. Spots will make a super meal of them in time to come. All of my
pedigree dogs that I’ve owned sooner or later were lifted by the leopard.

“Operation Dog-Hunt” echoing “Inhuman methods” Abu

After Mount Abu being declared an Eco-sensitive zone, it has changed the fortune of many a mongrel in our one horse town. The drive taken on by the Abu municipality to get rid of all its pie dogs with a vengeance has left me mind boggled , the cruelty meted out to the strays, caused my blood to boil. Their modus operandi is to sneak up behind the unsuspecting dog and then nab it by its waist with huge iron tongs, the dog writhes in pain and tries to attack the iron tongs hurting its mouth in the process, in the mean time two or three other dog catchers join in the melee with their tongs grabbing the dog by its neck or head, if the dog proves too strong for them then one of them delivers a resounding blow to the dogs head with his iron tongs knocking the poor animal unconscious or semi dazed. The dog is then lifted bodily with these tongs and thrown into a trailer behind a tractor. The dogs in this claustrophobic trailer are covered by galvanized sheets, the mongrels are so terrified in the dark that they lose their natural instinct to go for each other or for that matter to even growl. I’m sure it must have been the same for the prisoners who were led to the gas chambers during the Second World War.
Unfortunately, and fortunately for these dog catchers I did not have my camera on me as I was out walking my Basset hound, the video if taken of the scene I witnessed would have chilled the stoutest heart of any dog lover. I know I ran up to them and barged into them with a barrage of not too sweet words; they were caught off guard and cringed back when they saw me lift my cell phone to make a call. They released the writhing animal and scurried off with their tractor to an area up the road from where they had received a complaint from one of the residents living there, he had complained that his guests could not sleep as the dog made too much of a ruckus at night.
In respect to our mongrels I feel the increasing population of stray pigs should be taken care of. They rummage the surrounding area and rubbish bins by the side of the road causing the place to look like scenes out of some horror movie. Has anyone ever wondered what becomes of the poor mongrels huddled up in the trailer, well it is believed they are driven to some remote area way down the hill and then released to populate some other remote area. Dogs being dog are not easily fooled 50% of the veterans; sooner or later make it back up the hill. Some of the unfortunate ones end up as a delicacy to the dwindling panther population that inhabit this sanctuary of ours.
Meanwhile, animal lovers, if you see or read about atrocities on animals, especially our pariah dogs, you may write to your local animal welfare organization in Abu and the Animal Welfare Board of India, who in turn take action to stop the cruelty. The address
http://envfor.nic.in/legis/awbi/awbi13.html

Will post some snaps when the dog catchers are out the next time doing what they have to do.