An 11 hour raid by a combined team of Wildlife S.O.S and Friendicoes rescuers led to the confiscation of an ailing Great Dane and two Mixed breed Labradors who were being used solely for breeding.

On the tip off by an animal lover about five pedigreed dogs being tied up at a slum in west Delhi in all weathers and solely being used for breeding, Friendicoes SECA and Wildlife S.O.S. decided to conduct a combined raid at the said place and hopefully rescue the poor animals. Unfortunately what was not expected was the disinterest and non co operation of the local police especially encouraged by the local political leader who played the old song of “poor people being harassed” and even got the slum dwellers up in arms against the team. The lady who had made the call had accompanied the Rescue team and it took calls from her as well as the team to higher ranking police officials to get the local police to co operate and handle the situation so that no one was hurt and the matter could be amicably sorted out.

At the end of a grueling day the 5 member team came back with a 7 year old Great Dane and two Mixed breed Labs between 2-3 years of age while the owners managed to hide two of the dogs when the team was busy seeking police help and co operation. Sadly the Great Dane was extremely ill and was later diagnosed with distemper by the vets and had to be euthanized while the Mixed Labs are now living happily in the Friendicoes Sanctuary in Gurgaon.

This raid is not the only one Friendicoes has done and we are sure it won’t be the last unless the Animal Welfare Board of India is able to convince the powers that be that laws need to be enacted controlling the breeding mills that proliferate in every slum in the city, where miserable females are made to produce puppies every six months till they die in childbirth or suffer prolapsed uteruses, venereal diseases or simply die of exhaustion. It is also the direct cause for a massive racket in stolen dogs, and the exploitation of these animals is completed by the mockery that is made of “pedigree” because more often than not it’s a double scam and the “pedigreed pups” are not pedigreed at all and bewildered dogs get dumped at animal shelters as their owners decide not to waste time of them anymore. These animals were part of a bigger network of animal exploitation in the name of the pet trade that’s increasing day by day in Delhi. The Great Dane was just skin and bones and had lived her life tied to a post outside one of the slums bearing litter after litter of puppies to die in silent distress of distemper, a disease a simple preventive shot would have protected her against.

For most of us who have only heard of these things and have never seen them, it is impossible to imagine the condition these animals live in. And the worse part is that these pups are sold in big pet shops in the market and we buy them without realizing how much we are contributing towards the pain of the mother.

We need some stricter laws to protect our animals in this country and till then we should be more aware and sensitive to the needs of these animals and do everything in our power to save and protect them and preferably never buy from the puppy mills.