STRAY ANIMALS REALLY NEED YOUR HELP … and it’s urgent.
This tiny kitten - ‘Trashy’ – struggled to survive on a rubbish dump in
Shenzhen, China. Emaciated, terrified and covered with fleas, she searched
for scraps of food. Our local partner group found the poor creature and took
her to a clinic to be treated and neutered. After recovery, a loving foster
home was found for her.
Sadly, there are hundreds of thousands of stray cats in China who are less
fortunate. In Beijing alone there are 20,000 living in truly awful
conditions on the streets. Usually these cats are abandoned pets. They are
often sick, get injured in traffic accidents and are even killed by the
government in the most inhumane way.
More spays, less strays
Luckily the number of cat rescue groups in China is growing. Their aim is
for a structural and animal friendly solution to the stray problem by
setting up neutering programmes. For this to be effective, the cooperation
of veterinarians is essential. Vets set an important example in the way
animals are treated and promote the acceptance of neutering amongst the
public. They need to learn advanced surgical skills and medical and ethical
principles to apply to their daily practice – for the benefit of animal
welfare.
http://www.actasia.org/index/uploads/images/Newsletter/cattip2.jpg
So, in 2009, we started a training programme for animal-friendly vets.
Together with experienced members of Australia’s ‘Vets Beyond Borders’ we
trained 28 vets and their assistants in Beijing and Shenzhen. The results
were fantastic - the number of neutering operations in participating vet
clinics has increased by over 60% and the number of clinics that provide
free neutering has increased by 40%. Vets reported fewer complications and
quicker recovery of animals thanks to the use of painkillers and reduced
peri-operative stress. Vet associations and the Ministry of Agriculture in
Beijing have asked us to expand our training this year. A new, unique
feature is to ‘train the trainers’ for greater impact across China. We don’t
want to let the strays down now we’ve come so far, so we’re asking for your
help.
Time for the “inconvenient truth” …we just can’t do it without you.
It’s simple – we need 1000 people to donate €5 each.
Then – we can make it happen.
Click here to be one of the 1000:
http://www.actasia.org/index/index.php?page=get-involved
Please forward this message to as many people as you can – the more people we can reach, the more animals we can help.
Thank you,
Pei F. Su
Executive Director
ACTAsia for Animals
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Courtesy AAPN: Emergency call for vets on cats
Courtesy AAPN: Emergency call for vets on cats
FIAPO & HSI's: Farmed Animals in India workshop in H'bad: Sunday, 27th June
| Dear Friends, FIAPO and HSI's "Farmed Animals in India" workshop is landing in Hyderabad on Sunday, June 27th. We're thrilled to have the AWBI co-hosting the workshop, along with 10 other organisations! Please pass along the invitation (below and attached) to activists, friends, and family in Hyderabad. Thanks! Claire The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations
Invites You: Animal Farming in India: A Workshop on
Sunday, 27 June, 2010 Hyderabad
The Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organizations and Humane Society International with support from Blue Cross of India, Chennai, are conducting a workshop to explore the effect of factory farming on Indian animals, on global warming, world hunger and on human health.
Why Farmed Animals? The food and fiber sector (the dairy, poultry meat and eggs, and leather industry) abuses more animals than any other animal-based industry. With changing lifestyles there is increased demand for animal products, especially in metro cities. This is changing the nature of animal agriculture towards industrial production, known as “factory farming”, which is far more exploitative of animals, harmful for the environment and inequitable for poor communities.
The workshop in Hyderabad is part of a series which will continue on to Chennai, Kolkata, and possibly Goa during the next six months. Similar workshops were held in Mumbai in March 2009, Bangalore in August 2009, and in Delhi in April 2010.
DATE: Sunday, 27 June, 2010 Vegan lunch and refreshments will be provided.
REGISTRATION
To attend, please RSVP with the following details to claire.abrams@indiananimalsfederation.org · Your Name · Contact details, including address, telephone number(s), email address contact details claire.abrams@indiananimalsfederation.org
Workshop Schedule
Refreshments will be served throughout the day
|
Courtesy FIAPO: Outrageous article re pet shops in the Hindu (29th May 10)
Courtesy FIAPO: Outrageous article re Pet Shops in the Hindu (29th May 2010):
http://www.thehindu.com/2010/05/29/stories/2010052951481300.htm
Dear all
The backlash has begun. Please see this article published in the Hindu on 29 May 2010. I am sorry, I came to know of this just now. The writer rubbishes the Draft Pet Shop Rules 2010 by saying absurd things like ‘why should pets have better facilities than what most humans in this country cannot afford’? He attributes extraneous motives to the rules and says they have inspired by militant NGOs (I wish we were!). It calls for a strong response from all of us aeven if we are late. Please write to the editor of the newspaper to express our collective outrage at this silly piece. The email id is letters@thehindu.co.in The newspapers requires all letters to carry the full name and postal address of the person writing.
And the author has his email id at the end and you might also want to write to him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he himself owns one of those hell-hole pet shops in Shivajinagar in Bangalore!
I hope many of us will write in.
Regards,
Gopi Shankar
Licence Raj for pet-keeping
Syed Umar Farooq, The Hindu, 29 May 2010
The draft Rules, aside from being unreasonable and absurd, contain much scope for
mischief against pet lovers and the pets themselves.
If you thought that the Licence Raj was a thing of the past, then think again. It is set to
return — for your pets, your beloved dog, cat, bird, fish, guinea pig, and what not.
The Pet Shop Rules 2010 pushed by some militant NGOs and proposed by the Union
Ministry of Environment and Forests ostensibly seek to regulate the trade of pets
across the length and breadth of India. But they fail signally in their stated purpose
and have meandered into other realms in ways that are most unreasonable and even
absurd in the Indian context.
Under the Draft Pet Shop Rules 2010, the central government proposes to rein in and
regulate privately operating individuals, pet owners and pet shops, requiring them to
obtain a licence to keep, breed, and sell pets. These rules in draft form have been
published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, as required under sub-section (1) of
section 38 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1960, calling for objections
and suggestions from all persons likely to be affected.
Ensuring decent standards of food, shelter, and care for pet animals and birds in shops
is of course a laudable idea but there is much mischief lurking in this attempt at
regulation. Although titled Pet Shop Rules, the proposed new regime will require that
every person concerned with the handling of pets from birth to sale or death be
embroiled in the process of licensing. In fact, careful scrutiny of the Pet Shop Rules
2010 suggests they might as well be titled ‘Abolition of Pets Rules 2010.'
Courtesy Kc Dog blog: Why people adopt pets vs buy & vice versa-Research from PetSmart Charities
Courtesy Kc dog blog:
This research isn't necessarily new -- but I hadn't seen the entire research study before and wanted to share.
Last year, PetSmart Charities did some research with Ipsos Marketing Research (they are a top marketing research firm) asking people why they choose to adopt vs buy -- and why they bought pets vs adopted.
The findings are interesting -- and reading the entire 52 page report is well worth your time (and thanks PetSmart Charities for making this available to the public).
Before I get into a few of the findings that I found interesting, let me note that there is always a bit of a caveat when it comes to this type of research. People don't always do what they say they will do, and often make very emotional decisions and then try to rationalize why they made the decisions they do. So take these numbers as guideance...not as some written-in-stone rules.
* People, in general, are fairly aware of the social issue of "overpopulation of dogs/cats" - with 29% noting familiarity with the issue (3rd on their list behind only global warming and teen pregnancy). However, people's level of concern for it was quite low (35%) vs the other social issues measured. However, there was a wide discrepency between pet owners (50%) and non-owners (21%) on caring about the issue.
* About 35% of pets have not been spayed or neutered. Of that group, 75% are considering altering their pet. 26% aquired their pet already altered. People who live in the South seem less likely to have altered their pet.
* 13% of dog owners and 19% of cat owners note that had ever had a litter of puppies or kittens. In 53/54% of the cases the litter was accidental.
* 25% of all people got their pet from a family member. 24% from an adoption organization or shelter. 19% picked up a stray (more common for cats than dogs) and 12% from a purebred breeder (much higher among dogs than cats). Only 8% of people say they got their pets from a pet store. Pet stores (and the commercial breeders that got the dogs there) are a much smaller share of the pets out there than I think most would expect.
* The vast majority of people wildly underestimate the number of animals euthanized in shelters annually -- with only 14% of people guessing more than 4 million and the rest guessing lower -- often by a wide margin.
* The reasons people don't adopt vary wildly - most say it's because they were looking for a purebred animal (13%) or a particular type that they couldn't find in the shelter (17%). 10% did not know much about pet adoption and 10% said the adoption process was too dificult. 7% said the shelter was too depressing and 6% said the hours weren't convenient for them. That's 23% of people who did not adopt a pet because of various, very fixable, problems with the adoption process.
* The most common reasons people got pets from purebred breeders were a desire for a specific breed and wanted the pet's health history to be known. People bought from pet stores because they could get everything they needed in one place (44%) and it was more convenient (31%).
* There are many key motivators for pet adoptions, including Saving a life (73%), can be some of the best companion animals (71%), millions of homeless pets euthanized every year (68%), euthanasia the #1 killer of healthy pets in the US (67%), etc.
* Overall, adoption organizations and shelters have very good reputations compared to other sources for pets. However, local animal controls have very negative perceptions on how the animals are cared for and the health of the animals. Puppy mills and pet stores are generallly seen negatively by the public.
* Adoption organizations and shelters are generally seen as positive places, however, 40% of people note that they have limited hours, 16% say they are depresing and 10% say animals are often unhealthy/sick. 98% of people who recently aquired a dog or cat from a shelter said they would recommend that shelter to a friend.
* The top 4 reasons people say they have not spayed/neuter their pets: Pet is too young (34%), Too expensive (31%), haven't gotten around to it (24%) and did not feel it was necessary because the pet is confined to the home (14%). Too expensive scored much lower in the west than in other geographies -- likely due to well-developed low-cost spay/neuter programs in those areas.
*89% of people said they would definitely/probably consider altering their future dog or cat. Only 3% said they probably would not consider it.
*Only 62% fo people are aware of low cost spay/neuter clinics in their area. This is highest in the west and South, and lowest in the Midwest. Overall, over half of the people surveyed have reservations about the safety, cleanliness and care animals would receive at low cost spay/neuter clinics.
* The top reasons people said they altered their dogs or cats include: It's the right thing to do (69%), To prevent unwanted pets (68%), to keep pet from reproducing (67%), reduce pet overpopulation (62%). These are rank way above health or behavioral benefits.
* Only 19% of the populatoin is aware of Petfinder - -seems like a huge mis-opportunity.
* 26% of those surveyed feel PETA as an organization is unnecessary. And only 16% of people say they see a lot of positive news stories about PETA. I think people are finally starting to catch on.
Tomorrow I'll note some thoughst and "next steps" for the animal welfare community based on this research.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Courtesy Deccan Herald: For the love of dogs (070610)
Courtesy Deccan Herald: For the love of dogs (Monday,07th June 10)
| For the love of dogs | |
In a society that is largely insensitive towards its animals, it is always heartening to meet people like Chinni Krishna, an industrialist and committed animal rights activist, says Hema Vijay | |
 Shyama, Tripod, Bhairava, Dr Moosa and 12 others rush to me when the gates are opened. These 16 dogs leap all over the place and raise a symphony of barks. My heart skips a beat, and my legs refuse to move, though Chinny Krishna and wife Nanditha are inviting me into their beautiful heritage home, set in a sprawling, tree-lined compound in the heart of the city. Apparently, this boisterous bunch of dogs is just giving me a warm welcome. “It is like how we greet a stranger and voice our ‘hellos’ and ‘how do you dos’. Only, they are much more exuberant and warm than us, and we don’t understand their barks,” Chinny says. Phew!Likewise, at Aspick Engineering — Chinny’s firm which manufactures special purpose machines for the Departments of Atomic Energy and Space Research as well as for many large corporations in India and abroad — you’ll find over a dozen dogs relaxing in the MD’s cabin and outside, with meals (porridge in bowls) home-delivered to them, or in this case, office-delivered to them. A dog is only as good as its owner, Chinny Krishna, industrialist, animal lover and chairman of Blue Cross of India, says. “It all depends on how they have been treated. If they have been given affection and friendship, they are friendly and give affection; if they have been shouted at and hit, they tend to attack too,” he sums up. Well Chinny’s bunch of dogs must have received a lot of affection and good vibes, seeing that they all settle down after their initial exuberance; they wander away and come back every now and then to rub their noses on my legs. One of them even settles down near my feet. Each of these mongrels has a story to tell. Tripod (so named because he has three legs, one leg had to be amputated) for instance, was dragged by the wheels of a motorbike, rescued and put up for adoption at the Blue Cross. When nobody came forward to adopt her, Chinny simply brought her home. Daisy, the tall Harlequin Great Dane is a show dog bought for Rs 50, 000 and promptly abandoned by her owners when they discovered that she had a crooked gait. “They didn’t even want to wait until I could find a new home for her. What kind of people are we?” Chinny recalls with obvious distaste. Well, all these dogs are now happy at home – at Chinny’s. Chinny loves dogs, especially Indian mongrels (which we see roaming in the streets and which many of us love to hate). The Indian mongrel has it all, Chinny vouches. It has the intelligence of a Poodle, the loyalty of a Lassie, the bark of a Shepherd, the heart of a St Bernard, the spots of a Dalmatian, size of a Schnauzer and the speed of a Greyhound. If you want all these attributes in one pet, adopt an Indian mongrel, he recommends. Obviously, this man loves dogs. But Chinny’s purview extends beyond passion. There is a practical side to it. Through the Animal Birth Control Program pioneered by the Blue Cross of India (which he incidentally co-founded with others in 1964 when he was a teenager), cities like Chennai are now rabies-free. Going beyond passion “When we started ABC in 1966, we were laughed at,” he recalls. But Chinny and his friends persisted and began to spay/neuter all street dogs rescued by the Blue Cross. After treatment, the dogs were vaccinated and released at the same spot they had been picked up from. In 1995, the Chennai corporation finally came around and agreed to try out ABC, but with a rider, that the total cost of the programme was to be met by the Blue Cross. Blue Cross stuck to it and within six months, the results were promising, prompting the city corporation to bring more of the city under the ABC program. Chinny has many other successful doggy ideas up his sleeve. He got Blue Cross to link up with the Dr Dog program run by Animals Asia Foundation and now, dogs like Dr Moosa have been easing away the unexpressed strain and pain of many a special child. “Being with dogs is the best therapy in the world. They give such unconditional, open affection,” he says. Chinny has also tried to talk to Moulvis and others to get them to do away with the sacrificing of goats for Bakr Eid; he has successfully campaigned to stop caging of parrots in the Madurai Meenakshi temple. He developed ‘Compufrog’, an interactive software programme that mimics dissection of animals in schools. Dr Chinny even distributes Compufrog free of cost. Because of Blue Cross’s dogged lobbying, the Indian government finally decided to ban the export of frogs’ legs from India and also ruled in favour of banning dissection at the school level. And it is clearly not a case of preaching sans practice. Chinny is a vegetarian, doesn’t use leather, and had even requested wife-to-be Nanditha to forego silk saris just before their wedding. As professor at IIT Madras, Chinny had lived by the dictum, “You can’t teach; you can only facilitate learning.” That’s right, this multifaceted man is a techno-industrialist who obtained his B Tech and M Tech. Degrees in Chemical Engineering from the University of Madras and followed it up with an MS and PhD in Management from the USA. He also happens to be an elected Life Fellow of the Institution of Engineers and the Indian Institution of Chemical Engineers. Chinny rues the fact that as a society, we behave so callously with animals. “Every child has a great affection for dogs and all life in general, until we adults kill it,” Chinny says. The fact only gets reaffirmed when you see that at the Blue Cross center in Velacherry, Chennai, kids like Arpitha Rao and Tarinya Shekar happily clean puppy kennels during their holidays. In fact, most of the non-technical staff at animal care centres like Blue Cross happens to be volunteers who pitch in and help with their money and time — all for their love for animals. When Chinny and others founded Blue Cross, the aim was to make the blue cross concept redundant — to see the emergence of a society where animals didn’t need this kind of a shelter. “Now I’m wiser. I’d just like to see Blue Cross become self-sufficient.” | |
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Courtesy PAWS: Annual report
Courtesy PAWS: Check out on PAWS Annual Report
http://epaper.dnaindia.com/showstory.aspx?queryed=37&querypage=3&boxid=30851228&parentid=117846&eddate=Jun%20%205%202010%2012:00AM
Daily News & Analysis
Saturday, June 05, 2010
PAWS rescued 2,402 animals in 2009
DNA Correspondent
Close to 466 dogs and 463 snakes were rescued by Plant and Animals Welfare
Society (Paws), Dombivli in the year 2009. They were a part of 2,402 animals
rescued by the organisation, mainly from Thane district in the year 2009.
Rescue operations were mainly carried out by Nilesh Bhanage, founder of Paws
- Dombivli, along with the volunteers.
Bhanage revealed this fact in the annual report of the NGO which has been
involved in rescue of animals and birds. Among domesticated animals, Paws
rescued 466 dogs, 129 puppies, 29 cats and 14 kittens.
A large number of snakes are traced in Thane district in huge number due to
a good proportion of green cover in the region. As a result of this 463
snakes were rescued from Thane district last year.
The organisation provides veterinary services to birds and animals in
distress. Almost 873 animals and birds were provided veterinary help and
were also vaccinated during the health camps organised by the organisation.
“Our primary aim is to provide the best possible help to animals and birds
in distress and to work for their welfare always,” said Bhanage
Nilesh Bhanage
+91 9920777536
www.pawsasia.org
www.freewebs.com/pawsproducts
www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HigxbMqfh0
Please help financing a prosthetic leg for a disabled donkey in India/Bangalore!
Dear Animal lovers:-)
I would be thrilled if anyone would be willing to help me in getting a prosthetic leg for a disabled donkey who is living in India/Bangalore. I've found someone located in Vienna who would be able to get the donkey-her name is Nancy- a prosthetic leg manufactured. However, the price including shipping to India would be $700.
If you feel you would like to help me in helping Nancy, please contact me at:yasminedpolomski@live.com.
I would be soo happy if we could this make work. Thanks a million:-)
Yasmine D. Polomski
Courtesy FIAPO: Help save Trees-Join the Green-Team Campaign
Courtesy FIAPO: Help save Trees-Join the Green-Team Campaing!
Dear Friends,
Today, on World Environment Day – Angel Eyes is proud to launch THE GREEN-TEAM CAMPAIGN.
This is where we share notes and exchange thoughts on how we can all do our little bit to help save our environment. As we know well by now, widespread de-forestation (owing to commercial development) is destroying our earth’s environment by the day. Meanwhile, lacs and lacs of animals and birds are losing not only their homes, but also their lives, as a result of their depleting natural habitat.
NOW is the time for you to ACT. And yes, there is much that you can do at your own individual level…!
Here are some simple ways how you can kick-start your campaign to join THEGREEN TEAM.
1. While printing documents in office/school/college, always print on the flipside of a used A4 sheet.
2. Plastic/polythene bags are of course a big no-no. As a replacement, use jute bags, instead of cotton bags. Jute is bio-degradable, relatively cheap to buy and jute crops require little water.
3. Help make wedding-invitation cards an old-school concept. Send online invites to all internet-savvy people on your guest list. For others, have your wedding invitations made from recycled paper. (also, replace paper greeting cards with online e-cards).
4. Introduce pens or pen-pencils to school kids at an early age to help reduce the number of wooden pencils manufactured. Why must we wait up till class 5?
5. Re-use/re-cycle envelopes. Collect all the envelopes you receive in your letter boxes/couriers. When you need to send out a post, simply pick out an old one, strike out and replace the address previously mentioned on it and just send it out. Don’t worry…it will reach its correct destination.
6. Carry hand-towels and handkerchiefs with you in your bag at all times. Avoid usingtissue paper. Wash your hands after a meal at a restaurant, rather than calling for extra tissue paper.
7. If you run a company/business, make use of online/internet advertising and promotion. Then there are bulk sms facilities now available for publicity purposes. So avoid the printing of posters/pamphlets/brochures – most of which simply go into the bin. And if you must, use ‘Wood-free Recycled Paper.’
8. Avoid purchasing decoration pieces made from wood. And the next time you go to pick a new piece of furniture, check out the many easily-available alternatives to wooden furniture.
9. Youngsters – avoid wooden accessories/jewelry.
10. Never spill and waste dirty or unfit-to-drink water. A nearby tree or a plant will be thankful to get some.
11. Renovating your house? Do not opt for wooden flooring or wooden paneling on your walls. There are several other equally attractive options available in the market.
12. Teachers – let’s do away with those ‘margins’ in the notebooks.
13. Pay all your bills online – a great way to save paper.
14. A large number of families do not read the newspapers/magazines that are delivered at their door steps. Unsubscribe!!
15. Take down notes, scribble thoughts and jot down your 'to-do list' for the day on the back side of used paper. You can also make use of empty spaces on pamphlets/catalogues that you receive with your newspaper and in your letter boxes. Otherwise, there is always your computer notepad or the organizer in your mobile phone!
16. Adopt a tree. Plant a tree in a nearby park, garden or land. Nourish it well. Don’t forget to keep a water-filled clay-pot next to it for the animals and birds to drink water from.
HELP SPREAD THE MESSAGE OF THE 'GREEN-TEAM CAMPAIGN' !!!
CIRCULATE THIS EMAIL FAR AND WIDE.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Courtesy Rishi Dev (Citizens for animals): Tribute to piggu
Courtesy Rishi Dev (Citizens for animals): Tribute to Piggu
Dear Friends,
I am writing this not in grief but under the divine light & guidance of someone who left us. This is the reason this email is going to all the people I know and not just the animal lovers/ activist fraternity I work with generally. Some may ignore this but others may be in need of these words as I did till yesterday. Yet I feel it is important to share this pleasant moment in my life with everyone, so others can also feel or experience what I am doing today despite my grief. It is one rare moment in my life which I never thought would be perceived so as I do today. I am also writing this on behalf of the one who left us as he wanted me to. Please try to read it till the end.
We often blame God for giving us sufferings of pain, separation, hardships or what we sometimes call a form of retribution. But, we surely miss the point.
Even I did so, till this May 16, 2010 when God took away from me my only, most priced and loved thing in the world, my pet dog and the youngest and most loving member of our family, “Piggu”. He was my first pet in my complete senses to say.
Piggu was hail and hearty, not very old or sick, yet just a series of events took him away. The circumstances and the divine intervention wrote our destinies in a jiffy, without giving us any time to react, prepare or resolve. In fact he was in very good shape.
Even though Dr Vinod Sharma of Jeevashram kept trying all that was in his power for 6 long hours but couldn’t save him. I am grateful to him for giving his best. I know he had a special connection with Piggu. Probably that is why he drank his last gulp of water from Dr Vinod and not from us.
Each one of us loose someone special every moment in a way and life goes on yet we never learn what He wants us to learn. If Piggu had passed away a normal death from an ailment or old age, me and my family would have also sought it in the same spirit of negativity and deep pain.
But the events proceeding his demise showed us just how well planned he had made it all for a particular purpose he had in mind. And he was just a dog to many.
Just so that we are not in any doubts, after leaving us on Sunday he came back to show us the real self he was, not once or twice but for three days in a row.
I would not get into the details of how he did that or what he told us, as I don’t want arguments, critical rationale, disbelief, doubt to dilute the effect of the message he gave me. I couldn’t see it too, immediately, as we were too pained after he had left us, but he kept comming back till we were ready to see it.
It was not a thought to satisfy our grieving souls but came as physical proof to many in our family. He appeared to many, even the ones who had not seen him ever but had known about him and loved him nevertheless for his love towards us and vice versa. This includes a friend in Agra who had never seen Piggu but had guided me in times when he was ill last year. He appeared to my friend minutes after he left us on May 16, 2010 between 12:30 and 1:00 pm. My friend told me before I informed him that piggu had left us and what also told me just to confirm colored skin Piggu had. He had appeared to him immediately after his death, 150 kms away. The fact he reappeared several times after being buried is not coincidence to us. The fact that he told us things not even we knew is not our illusions. There are many such thrilling experiences which I can’t quote unfortunately, yet they were no illusions, which all happened after he left us. When he re appeared in person, he was accompanied with the divine form we worship, Shri Shirdi Sai baba. He proved it to us in many ways that it was not our hallucination. He gave us physical proof and then his final message. And at this moment if anyone should have any doubts, illusions whatsoever about the authenticity of the events, then it should be me and my family who has lost everything that was to us and the meaning of God should mean nothing to us. But it is not so.
Hence the reason I share this private moment and experience, as it is most important for all to know what he showed us. Why he came back ?
His message to me was clear and thus :
He came to tell me that -
“ He had found his salvation, because he had done nothing else but loved us from the core of his soul and heart. ”
One doesn’t have to believe or worship god to attain perfection. You have to believe in love.There is no bodily restriction to salvation, peace and eternal love.
But the only restriction to us getting it all is the restrictions we impose on ourselves in sharing love with others. Our fears, doubt, questioning, anger, ego, self are our only hurdles, not the bodily form which we take in our births. Its a complete misbelief that only human form can attain moksha and that too through many rituals or practices and what not. Even I believed that knowledge was a way to God.
He had come to tell me that for all God is nothing else but perfection through surrender, sacrifice and truth in love.
GOD IS NOTHING ELSE BUT LOVE PAR EXCELLENCE.
Salvation through true love and total surrender to anyone you love is only way to perfection, peace and eternal love. Loving all forms of God that we see in all his creation.
Since I was his god, he gave me all his self in every sense for as long as he lived with us.And he achieved his salvation because of this impeccable and perfect LOVE.
These are not my perceptions as we read daily in scripts or books, but what he told me after his death, in person, in spirit, soul to soul and in physical form too. Recollecting the last 9.5 years he spend with us, I see very clearly, as to who he was, why he had come and what he wanted to give and where he went. The list of events are very long and many but all authenticated and cross questioned by me several times before.
And the point and conclusion is short.
He gave me his real identification. Who he was ? and how I knew him from the past life ? why he had come and where did he go ?
He had come to start and also completed my search in God and taught me in the end the meaning of true salvation and how to achieve it.
What I saw after Piggu’s life and death was proof of this ?
It is again not a coincidence that he left on the day of “akshaya trithi” as per hindu calendar. I needn’t mention the importance of this day to the learned. All these dates seemed superstitions and beliefs to me till this day. But not anymore.
The fact that all street dogs he used to play with didn’t eat food and came grieving to my feet the next day is another fact which actually shows the divine connection all life forms have with each others except humans who are so restricted within their senses and notion of knowledge.
While I was grieving his physical demise, even I hadn’t felt his divine presence until I experienced these series of events, which I can’t share in detail. But he truly showed me the world as one temple and respecting and loving all creations as god’s worshipping.
Piggu was my last stage to identifying God. The rest he told me was up to me to continue to explore and achieve. He would only guide me and the rest I had to do on my own.
I used to ask myself and others a question – “ what is the purpose of life ? ”.
Finally he told me that the only purpose of life is to LOVE all, to reach not GOD but the statehood of God through nothing else but HIS only characteristic called Love.
He said -
Love all despite their hatred, despite their vices, despite their scorn, despite their evil.
Love selflessly, perfectly and quietly.
Love to give and not to take or ask.
Love so that even destinies have to be rewritten.
Love so that there is nothing else left to do.
Because only love can dilute and destroy everything else that is not love.
There is nothing else worthwhile in this world than love.
Love is above knowledge, above truth, above perfection, above everything else.
This is how Piggu loved us and got what highest and learned of saints don’t get in many many births. His physical form as a dog could not come in the way to his moksha.
He remains here like the scent remains and spreads even more after the bottle is broken. So even if his body has perished, it has lead to the spreading of his omnipotent LOVE for us and around us. His true love for us which has spread so widely, where ever we go, has diluted all the grief and pain.
My spiritual Guruji reaffirmed all these events even before I asked him or mentioned it to him. He told me that I had experienced these the first time I met him after sunday. He told us not to miss but to feel Piggu’s presence, or else he would have to come again from moksha to fulfill our craving for that mundane physical form. This would not be true but selfish, physical love, if we wished that.
All this may seem like a clichéd quote from a script or an outburst, but all these words mean real to me now when I have seen the physical manifestation of it happening in front of my eyes. Not once but many times in the last few days.
So I choose his path to reach him one day. There is no pain or grief as he is around and constantly teaching me to share and love, reminding me through this fading pain of physical separation, not to give any pain to anyone in any way.
I saw the true reflection of the love of GOD in a DOG.
You may see it in someone else. Don’t miss it.
We don’t value our families and people around us and run away from them in one pretext or the other. We value possessions which separate us, we argue, we hate, we despise, but we don’t surrender, we don’t forget & forgive and we don’t seek love from each other. And we think all this will come on its own once we have achieved our petty goals. We seek worldly knowledge and hesitate to let go, but never seek which is so easy because of our hesitations and egos, our notions of self.
Yet what this dog did all his life was nothing else but love me all the time he was here.And in the end too gave his life to secure our future which we believe is true.
Only one simple act of loving us which he repeatedly did all his life got him the statehood of GOD.
After this I feel all the knowledge that I think I have gathered is a waste.
Piggu’s final message he gives us with these painful moments is only to attain his state and find him again by practicing to share LOVE.
I will try to do it. And I urge you all to start afresh and shun all hatred, scorn, doubts about anyone you meet and just try to seek their love by giving all that you can.
There is no discrimination in God’s creations. These different forms that we see are only “illusions” that we have to break and see all as one, with only one eye. And that is only possible if we share one equal feeling with all. That of truth in love.
As a tribute to the wonderful 9-1/2 years he gave us, here is a poem in hindi which we felt was the only way to capture in parts the physical connection and time we spent together and share the love he gave us with all.
The poem is uploaded at this link : (a low resolution file is also attached here)
http://atributetomypiggu.blogspot.com/2010/05/citizensforanimalrightsgmail.html
He is still with us in spirit and will be so always.
I have faith.
Please remember him in your prayers and he will give you his eternal love.
Thanks
on behalf of our "Piggu"
Rishi and family
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