One morning last week while walking my dogs, I noticed a horse tied up in a field. As the horse looked in good condition, I didn't think too much about it. However in the early evening when taking my doggies out again, I noticed the horse tied in the exact same place in the field. As my doggies were very excited seeing a horse, I didn't try to get too close to the creature. But the next morning decided that if the horse was still in the field I would investigate more closely.
There was no water or food anywhere near the young horse so went to my house to collect a bucket of water, fruits and vegetables. It must have been some time since he had been given water, because he got through the water bucket in no time flat. Its difficult to understand the mentality of people that abuse animals and in this case you wonder whether the owner is evil or just plain stupid. Here is a young horse tied up in an open field just twenty feet away from the cover of several cooling trees, but the owner has chosen to tie up the horse in a spot with no shade or water. Nowadays the average midday temperature is around 103 degrees fahrenheit, so the days it spent neglected in the field must have been torture for the creature.
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| Beautiful young horse, helplessly tied up on open land |
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| Several cooling trees only twenty feet away |
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| Lovely young horse |
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| Finally water and food . . . its been a long time! |
I have talked with Leslie Robinson founder of the Arunachala Animal Sanctuary and Rescue Centre a number of times on the changing consciousness in Tiruvannamalai towards animals. Previous to the establishment of the Animal Shelter, dogs would be regularly culled throughout the area and their bodies thrown onto the back of a cart. From what I understand the labourers working on the cull, were paid per carcass. Through unremitting pressure from the Shelter the regular dog culls were stopped and the Animal Shelter took responsibility for maintaining a manageable number of dogs in the area by offering free dog sterlisation.
Nowadays locals seem to have become more sensitive to suffering animals and you often see wounded or abandoned creatures brought into the Animal Shelter by strangers. Previously there was no-one to call for help, but now in the case of emergencies the Arunachala Animal Shelter is always ready to give their support.
In the case of the lovely neglected horse, he is now living happily at the Arunachala Animal Shelter and enjoying the comfort of good food and water, lots of shady trees and the company of a bunch of friendly dogs residing at the Sanctuary.
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| Getting lots of love at the Shelter |
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| Cool, fed safe and with friends. Nice. |
It is hoped that if anybody visits the shelter to claim the young horse as their own that they can give a full explanation of why the helpless creature was left for days without food, water or shelter and tied up in an open field under the remorseless heat of a Summer's sun.
Check out the Tiruvannamalai Animal Shelter at their website here and their emergency contact numbers below.
