Finding Homes for Stray Pups

In India, stray dogs are a common sight. One day in April 2013, I noticed that a female dog that lives outside the gates of my housing complex was constantly going in and out of a bush at periodic intervals. I decided to investigate this peculiar behavior and as I got closer to the bush I heard whimpering sounds. When I looked inside the bush, I was surprised to find a litter of 10 pups about a month old. I quietly moved away and observed from a distance. From that day on I saw the mother and pups every morning as I waited for my school bus. A few days later, I reached the bus stop to find only 9 pups. I searched for the missing pup but I couldn't find it anywhere. The missing pup was the smallest one of the litter and I realized that it must have died. At that moment I decided that I was going to help the pups. Three things led me to make that decision: 1) the mother was much too undernourished to be able to nurse all 9 pups, 2) I wasn't ready to see any more pups die, 3) the life of a stray dog is a hard one, and if I could save even a few animals from living that life, I would. 

The next day after I came home from school, I collected 9 pups in a cardboard box and brought them home. At this time my parents were off on vacation so I didn't have to debate with anyone over taking in the pups. I cleaned the pups with antiseptic soap and gave them some warm milk to drink, and then put them in an old 4x3 foot rabbit crate. My parents soon came home and were surprised to find the pups. They weren't happy about it but they finally agreed to house the pups until we found homes for them. Now it was time to do just that.

                                    

I sent an email about the pups to the community mailing list asking if anyone wanted to adopt one. I put pictures on all the local animal welfare sites. And of course on facebook too. Soon, many kids in the community came knocking to play with the pups and many even convinced their parents to let them take one. Within the first week 3 pups were adopted: 2 in the community and 1 by someone who had seen pictures on a website. Sometime during the second week, I got a call from a man named Gopi who said he would take all 9 pups. He said he was a part of an organization which raised stray dogs to live inside gated housing complexes. I told him that I had 6 left and that they were 5 weeks old. He said he was looking for older pups, at least 2 months old. I remembered that I had seen another litter of pups on the street nearby. These pups were around 3 months old and there were 8 of them. I told him that I would get those pups for him and he agreed. I went out and caught all 8 of those pups with my friends and brought them home. When Gopi's people came they said that they would take 5 of the 8. They took 4 males and 1 female and my friends and I released the other 3 females where we found them.

Through the next few days 4 pups were adopted. One man said that someone had stolen a litter of puppies from his pet Rottweiler that was lactating. He said his dog was not eating because she had no pups to feed so he took the smallest pup home. 2 were adopted by a family who lives in my complex and the other was adopted by a woman who wanted to adopt a stray pup.

By the end of the third week, I had only 2 pups left with me: 1 male and 1 female. I had told my vet to spread the word about the pups and I got a call from a man named Ajit who wanted the male pup as his son's birthday present. I had only one pup to home on the 4th week and I was actively posting on all the pet forums. Everything had gone really well the last few weeks but all good things come to an end. I got a call from one of my neighbors who had adopted a pup on the first week. She said that her daughter had had an allergic reaction to the pup and they wanted to return it. So now I was left with 2 female pups and I needed to find homes for them before the next week as I was leaving town for a few days. At this time there was another litter of pups in the same place where I had found the first litter. This litter had a healthy-looking mother and there were only 6 of them, so I didn't feel the need to take them in. That week, I got a call from someone who wanted a male pup. I had 2 females with me but I remembered the new litter. I told the guy that I would give him a male pup so I picked up a male from the new litter and gave it to him.

I needed to find homes for the 2 female pups quickly so I tried everything. Finally a gardener who worked in my community took 1 but I could not find a home for the other one. Time was running out so I put that pup outside the gate and instructed the security guards to feed it periodically.

I still see that pup from time to time. Although now it is no longer a pup. It lives in a pack along with its mother and has a healthy fear of humans now. I also see the 2 pups that were adopted by my neighbors.

That is the story of how I found homes for 14 pups in one month.

Hide and Seek with a Squirrel

It was a sunny day in February in 2013. I was taking an afternoon nap with my balcony door open. When I woke up it was around 6ish so i shut the balcony door and went to check my phone. As I walked towards my table I was surprised by a rustling sound coming from under the bed. I took a look and found a baby squirrel quivering in the corner. This animal wasn't the large, bushy-tailed, grey squirrel you find in America. It was an Indian Palm Squirrel, which looks more like a chipmunk. I thought it was a helpless and harmless creature so I reached forward to pick it up. Apparently it had other ideas, because it darted away from my hand and made for my closet. Picking up that this was no helpless infant, I grabbed a butterfly net to pursue it. After an animated half-an-hour chase I had finally caught the little guy. I took some time to inspect the squirrel and deduced that it was a 1-2 month old male. I knew that squirrels are strictly diurnal (active during the day) animals so releasing it was not an option as it was already dark. I decided to wait till the next morning to release it. I put some dried grass and some moist cotton in a cardboard box, and then poked some air holes in the box. I then tried transferring the squirrel into the box but it nipped at my finger, trying to bite me. I put on some thick snow gloves and put the squirrel into the box. I kept the box in my room overnight.

The next morning I decided to check on the squirrel so I opened the box and peeked inside. Suddenly the squirrel jumped through the gap, ran up my arm and leaped behind the bookshelf. I looked for him but evidently he had disappeared. Luckily my room door was closed so I knew he couldn't have gotten out. I called my parents in and we proceeded to turn my room inside out looking for the squirrel. We emptied the bookshelves, moved aside all the furniture and checked in every possible place, but we just couldn't find him. Finally we decided to wait it out. I went into my room periodically hoping to see some movement or hear some noise. In the mean time, we could all hear the high pitched squeaks of an adult squirrel outside our house. That cleared my doubts about whether our squirrel was an orphan. Around 1:00 in the afternoon, I went into my room again to find the baby squirrel climbing on the balcony window. I quickly opened the window and the squirrel jumped to freedom. In about 10 minutes the high pitched squeaks stopped, possibly indicating that the baby had found its mother.

My suspicions were confirmed the next day when I saw the mother and baby running together on the roof of my house. This whole episode just goes to show that animals don't need humans as much as we think they do. Apart from keeping the squirrel safe for one night, I did virtually nothing. The baby relied purely on its instincts to find its mother and everything worked out perfectly. I still see that squirrel around my house sometimes, climbing a tree or scaling a wall. I can tell it's him because he has a slightly crooked tail. Now he's almost an adult and soon he may have babies of his own. 

Nature knows what it's doing but sometimes it needs a little help from us. It's our job to do just what is needed; no more, no less.