By Dr. Kuhu Roy
Many of us are familiar with, “That is such an old stray dog, someone please help!” even though the dog might not be in need of any intervention at all.
Usually, the standard modus operandi thereafter is to place a call to a shelter to have the senior stray dog parcelled off to a life in confinement. Far worse, in some cases, they are tossed like a football from one foster home to another and are eventually abandoned on the roads at some random location. The senior stray dogs fade into oblivion and eventually perish. Is this what they deserve? This idea of playing with an innocent’s life is not good karma, but certainly is dangerous compassion.
Why cannot we tend to them every day, dirty our hands and feel good about making someone’s life a little better? Live and let live, let them be where they are, the streets which they call their home.
However, we cannot ignore the fact that being born a stray dog is a crime and aging on the roads is a curse. The senior stray dogs become detestable objects in the eyes of those who once loved them when they were young. That is the point where we have to learn to open our homes to them in their twilight period. We are a huge tribe of animal lovers who can make a mammoth difference.
Jr. Prashant is home, the thirty-third senior in my life I have had the honour to tend to at home. I can only give a good life to a handful because mine is not a hoarding facility, but a home where every child gets an equal amount of love, care. The broader picture is grim because there are thousands out there with frosted faces, glazed eyes and stiffened joints waiting for our empathy and respect which they deserve.
