The COVID-19 pandemic has changed a lot of our lives. From the day lockdown was announced, we haven’t stopped working, not for a single day.
We took minutes to readjust our operations – we knew we had over 200+ animals at the RESQ Centre to look after and needed to continue the animal rescues. So, we made 2/3rd of our team stay home safe and the rest of us, the 1/3rd continued working, with added pressure to do thrice the work taking every possible precaution we could.
In the months of May and June 2020, we continued rescuing all kinds of animals, domestic or wildlife, who were in need of help.
Many abandoned, many injured, some fallen down wells and some stricken with neglect.
While we are having to restrict our movements to within Pune city, there have been times where we have had no option but to travel hundreds of kilometres because the rescues have been time-sensitive for the animal. View this video where we had to travel to Shirur for a rescue where 3 dogs had fallen into a deep well:
Our RESQ Wildlife Unit has been really busy too…
Even though Pune was not the direct path of the Cyclone Nisarga, we faced heavy winds and rainfall which caused devastating effects on wildlife, especially birds. We brought in over 30 birds on that single day which include nestlings fallen down from trees, birds electrocuted and injured. We have been scrambling with space to keep them in our Stabilization Units and ICUs for the intensive care they need…
You can support the work we do for animals by contributing here: Click to Donate
On a happier note, two memorable animals that our Wildlife RESQ Unit sent back into the wild was a Hyena, that was caught in a poaching foot trap and injured himself as well as a young Jackal female who had falled down the well and broken her leg. She recovered beautifully after surgery and post-operative care at RESQ…do watch their videos below, for watching a recovery and release will truly put a smile on your face!
Besides rescues and releases, we've had to modify our Rehoming Process (to online interviews), but we are thrilled that even in these difficult times, people have been opening up their hearts and homes to taking home a new family member!
The lockdown is now greatly lifted, but life is not the same. We’ve had to make changes going ahead, because our survival and desire to continue working for animals, the way we have since 2007, requires us to be prudent in the way we tread ahead.
While change is constant, there are some things that we never intend to change. Here’s a very simple list of points explaining what’s changed and what’s not:
What's not changed:
- Our promise to animals: RESQ will never refuse to provide medical aid to animals if we have the resources to do so.
- Helplines are on! Both our RESQ Helplines are on from 10 am to midnight. The Domestic Animal Helpline is 9890999111 and Wildlife Helpline is 9172511100. Please call on the appropriate number based on the species you are calling about.
- We are admitting Domestic Animals and Wildlife: We are taking in-patients for hospital admission and rehabilitation for both, domestic animals and wildlife. Domestic animals include stray injured, sick or abandoned dogs, cats, cows, horses, donkeys, buffalo, goat, chicken, camel, rabbits and birds. Our Wildlife Unit intakes all birds, reptiles and mammals.
- Free treatment for animals: Since 2007, there have no mandatory charges for admitting an animal into RESQ, for our technical rescue services or ambulances. You can donate what you want, and if you cannot, we will intake them anyway if we have space. Same as before :)
What has changed: Reduced number of Ambulances and Staff! We are currently operating only 1 ambulance for small animals and 1 ambulance for large animals and 1 ambulance for wildlife. We have reduced our staff numbers and have increased our shift timings so limited people work more time and take on more responsibilities.
Let's hope things look up again soon and we can go back to running at full power of staff and response units! Until then, we at RESQ, will continue to what we do best for animals - rescue, rehabilitate, rehome or release!
If you would like to contribute towards the work we do at RESQ for animals, please donate here, it will truly help us go on!
We thank you for always being a support to us and enabling us to do the work we do for animals.
With joy, peace and determination,
Team RESQ