By Becky Metcalf | Co-founder
Nine months ago in August 2020, Manali Strays started to rent a small three-bedroom stone cottage set in a quarter of an acre apple orchard in the foothills of the Himalayas. The orchard was covered with corn growing 7 feet high. There was no fencing around the property. The house had unfinished concrete floors or old carpet, there was nowhere to keep any dogs long-term, and we had to do our rescues and mobile clinic on a motorbike, or borrow vehicles. We also did everything with 3 volunteers and a part-time veterinarian.
Fast-forward to May 2021: The property is entirely fenced and secure; we have purpose-built kennels that can hold up to 30 dogs; the kennels have their own small kitchen for cooking food, a treatment room, where inpatients can be treated in the morning before going outside to spend the day lazing about in the apple orchard; we have segregated the orchard into five separate areas so that dogs of different ages or temperament can be separated if, and when, needed; we have a quarantine area for puppies with parvo infection; we have a rescue van that allows us to bring animals in need to our hospital and catch stray dogs for sterilisation surgery; we now employ one full-time veterinarian, one vet assistant, two animal welfare assistants, and one “Subhash” – he spends 24 hours at the hospital making sure all the inpatients are ok during the night. During the day he does everything from catching dogs, rescuing dogs, treating puppies round the clock for parvo, helping in surgeries, feeding, playing with dogs… the list goes on; we have had the help of 15 various amazing volunteers who have done everything from walking dogs and helping with daily treatments to painting fencing, doors & window frames, gardening, making paths, and cementing stones in place.
So far in 2021, we have: sterilized 128 dogs (March and April only due to cold weather preventing surgeries in January to mid-March); rescued and treated 96 dogs as inpatients at our hospital; treated 130 pets as outpatients; found forever homes with local families for 10 puppies that were abandoned or unable to be released back onto the street; vaccinated 187 dogs against rabies, and vaccinated 87 dogs against parvo, distemper, and other infectious diseases.
One of our co-founders, Dr Becky Metcalf, completed the “Fear Free” course for shelters, which aims to empower veterinary professionals and people working in animal welfare to remove stress and anxiety in vet practices and shelter environments. Our other co-founders are now working on the shelter course (which is free of cost), and then we are going to try and fund our veterinarian to complete the Fear Free course for vets.
Phase II of the set-up of our hospital will concentrate on getting the vital hospital equipment for diagnostics, such as an x-ray, ultrasound, and blood analysers.
From all of us at Manali Strays, stay safe and thank you for your continued support.
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