Cow towing

 If you ever hear its four sirens, make way for Mumbai's - and Asia's - only
ambulance for cows. It has saved 500 lives so far and could well be on its
way to saving one more. Passers by - just stop and stare. Vehicles move out of the way in surprise, so it helps us to reach the destination faster.

Rachel Lopez
Mumbai


T HERE'S ONLY one of it in all of Asia and it's parked in a muck filled yard
in Goregaon. A litter of month-old pups has already started playing their
doggie games under the tyres and a few crows have perched on its roof,
cawing merrily. Mumbai's cow ambulance is at rest right now but when it
comes to life, tearing through the streets to save a wounded animal, it
really is a sight to see. "It's louder than a fire engine," says Bhavin
Gathani, spokesperson for the Karuna Parivar Trust and the brainchild behind
the vehicle. "Passers-by just stop and stare. Vehicles move out of the way
in surprise so it actually helps us to reach our destination faster."

It's easy to see why anything involving the ambulance is such a spectacle.
While other animal ambulances are shabby vansized affairs, Gathani's machine
is the size of a truck, brightly painted, air-conditioned and kitted out
with all manner of animal rescue and medical equipment (it may be intended
for cows but is equipped to save any animal that needs help). There are
hydraulic lifts built into the chassis to raise the animal to table height,
a defibrillator with a higher voltage for large animals, an overhead tank to
wash up wounds, a heavy-duty size stretcher, a retractable awning for sun
and rain protection and an extendable ladder on the roof.

And unlike regular two-siren ambulances, this one has four, in keeping with its size and cargo.
The roomy ambulance is certainly a step up from Gathani's last rescue vehi
cle, a Maruti 800. "Four years ago, if a cow had been knocked down by a
passing vehicle, there was simply no way for us to get her to the hospital
on time," recalls Gathani. Neither the BMC nor the SPCA had vehicles or
contingency plans to save large animals. Rescue missions often meant hiring
a truck for the day and loading the wounded animal awkwardly into the back.
The process took time, blocked traffic, and alarmed the wounded animal
further. "I figured that if we couldn't save the animal we consider a god,
how can we say we love animals?" says Gathani.

But a cow ambulance is hardly something you buy from the local showroom. It
had to be designed from scratch and custom-manufactured. Thankfully, an NGO
agreed to foot the Rs 12 lakh bill. Scouting the Internet for the best
features of animal rescue vehicles around the world, he came up with his own
hybrid. The ambulance had its maiden outing just a day after Gathani got it.
A distress call from Kandivali station informed the Trust that a wounded
calf had been dragged to the platform and abandoned. Sirens blazing, the
ambulance got there in time to take the calf to the veterinary hospital and
even provide first aid to her injured eye on the way. Word spread and soon
even the SPCA was forwarding rescue cases of larger animals to Gathani.

The cow ambulance has also helped the Trust rescue animals about to be
illegally slaughtered. Legal slaughtering in the city can only take place in
Deonar. In their largest animal raid in 2003, they safely relocated 41
animals from an illegal abattoir in Kurla to a hospital. It made several
trips between 1 am and 6 am and rescued all the animals before the police
intervened with red tape. The model has also been an inspiration for people
looking to make rudimentary ambulances in their own villages. But none have
matched the original in terms of scale or amenities.

The ambulance has saved 500 lives so far. Gathani gets an average of 15 to
16 cow-rescue calls a month, but since the BMC has come down strongly on
abandoning animals this year, work is half as hectic. But there is no lull
in the number of threatening calls that Gathani receives from the
slaughterhouse mafia every day. They haven't managed to scare him yet. "My
love for animals cancels out the fear. I think I love them even more than my
wife," smiles Gathani, who was driven to start this service because as a
child he witnessed a bus driver almost run over a dog.

The driver couldn't see if the dog had escaped and asked Bhavin if it was safe to move. Though Bhavin could see the trapped dog from where he was standing, he chose to
remain silent. He has lived with the guilt of hearing the sound of the
little animal's bones being crushed by the bus, knowing he could have saved
a life with a simple answer. "This project has been paisa vasool from the
first cow we saved," he says.

Contact Karuna Parivar Trust at 28763856/ 28761313 and at
alas1313@yahoo.co.in


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