I feel that they are a really a disadvantaged lot. I see animals looking around everywhere for food but hardy gets anything that edible. They usually eat very stale or rotten if and when they get anything. During the summers I see animals panting for breath and water as the temperatures outside is around 47 degrees during daytime. They lie around underneath trees and shrubs along the roadside for shade but hardly get anything to drink. And when they drink they usually do it from the drains that run alongside the roads. Yes, that’s right.
There are plenty of food stalls along the roadside where people buy cheap snacks. You will find dogs sitting there in submission looking at the peoples face eating, but hardly ever get any food bits thrown at them. On the contrary many times they get chased or some sharp object or stone thrown at them. Many times the dog or animal panics and runs in the middle of the road just to get run over by a car or some heavy vehicle.
For every 10 kilometers you drive, you will at least see 2-3 dead animal apparently run over by some careless driver. Most of these accidents that happen are usually avoidable but the general mindset of the people are that they do couldn’t care less.
I remember one instance when I was driving to my office. I saw a pup and her mother playing on the roadside. I also saw an speeding call center cab behind me and eventually overtake me. At that very moment I saw that the dog tried to cross the road. It was half way through the middle of the road when it realized that the vehicle was too near and coming too fast. The poor animal froze in its track and did not know what to do. The driver could have slowed down and avoided the accident but it was in such a rush. I was almost hypnotized by all this and my mind was so intensely wishing that the vehicle would either stop or the animal move, that I don't know when I hit the brakes and my car stalled and stopped. Fortunately at the last moment the animal moved and the vehicle whizzed passed. There was no other vehicle on that stretch of road now and as I recovered I started my car and thought of the guy driving the cab. What kind of a person is he? What was going on in his mind when he was the animal ahead? I really felt anger and hatred towards the driver. At one point I think I wished a similar fate for him would do justice to a man like him. But I was happy for the animal when I saw again play with its pup. A fraction of a second could have changed the fate for the pup and its mother.
Not all animals are lucky and you see them lying dead on the streets everywhere. Ours is a country where we worship animals and cow is considered sacred. But people here want something they can worship and forget. They do not want responsibilities nor are they capable of handling it. Most people who keep cows do that for their milk so that they can sell the milk and earn money. Once the cow stops producing milk they are thrown out to fend for themselves. Can you imagine anything more selfish than this? The people who are rich and stylish hate these animals as they are menaces to the society and their status. They spend most of their lives trying to make others realize that they are indeed rich and deserve to be praised.
I really feel for the animals and feel that some sort of arrangements should be made where these animals can be kept safe until someone adopts them. A huge area should be allocated where they can run freely and play around and taken care of before they are finally adopted. Even if such a project was undertaken and funds allocated, the funds could just vanish like that. No one will know where the funds went. If the authorities could steal food and relief items being sent to the Tsunami victims, then these poor animals stand no chance.
But I sincerely hope that one day the situation change for the animals on the Indian roads.