Vet To The Rescue

The Animal Kingdom never fails to mesmerize me.

From the bio-luminous crystal jellies to the empathetic dolphins, from the aggressive hummingbird to the gentle giraffes, from the life-giving bees to the poisonous desert tarantulas, the chain of fabulous interactions, quirky behavior and respect towards dominance have always made me fall in love with the life of animals every time I come across a new attribute.

In fact, since childhood, I have always wanted to own an animal farm so that I can rescue wounded, old and dying animals and give them the best care or atleast let them enjoy the remaining of their life in a paradise.

Being with animals makes me feel loved; I can see myself reflected in their eyes and I am able to grasp their behavior quickly and act accordingly.

Today, I met with Prof. (Dr.) Rama Kumar. V (Rtd), a professor of Veterinary Sciences at Veterinary Council of India.

Sir and I talked about the status of our environment, waste management, environment law, animal welfare, veterinary practices, dairy industries, meat industries, human-animal conflicts and economy.

Here are some parts of our conversation which I found interesting:

• Crocodiles can eat and digest almost anything- from dirt to flesh.They clean the aquatic body by eating eel and thus become an ecosystem engineer by controlling the aquatic life population. Eels might exhaust the fish (especially commercial fish) and the crocodiles feed on eels and help to maintain the balance.
• Make eye-contact with stray dogs and smile. When you smile, you release oxytocin (a calming hormone) which the dog can sense and won’t consider you as a threat.
• Try not to panic or run from a stray dog as you will release adrenaline (fight or flight hormone) and the dog will also release adrenaline; both will mix and the dog will sense there is danger and may attack you.
• None of the waste from hospitals is segregated properly. It is simply dumped without even undergoing primary treatment into landfills or water-bodies. This is poisoning the ecosystem.
• if there are more than 6 stray dogs in a particular area, then they will form a group with the alpha usually being a female and most of its followers being its own kids. This enables them to find and keep food easily.

Unfortunately, due to personal reasons, we were only able to spend just over an hour to interact. I hope to meet this venerable doctor soon and gain more knowledge under his wings.