The Tale of the Two Tails...

The last time Farida called RESQ - we rescued Felix from the Pune Waterworks Canal over a year ago..Felix, a 4 month old stray pup had got himself stuck on the ledge of the canal where water was flowing at high currents. Fire brigades, courageous RESQ volunteers and crazy nerves got this pup out of his misery at 2:00am. We found Felix a home and Farida hopefully slept well knowing that there was no more a puppy stuck and howling in the canal behind her house.

Today, Farida called again.
She sounded extremely frantic - "there are these newborn puppies in the middle of the road, someone has just thrown them here".

I question and reason - "there are hundreds of puppies on the streets, I can't starting picking healthy puppies, there will be no end".

Taking the Call
Farida said one was very weak and they were very tiny. In normal circumstances, I would have to say sorry because there was nothing I could do.

Suddenly, I remembered how ecstasic and excited Sruti and Reishabh (our volunteers in Kalyani Nagar) gets when she talks of infant puppies. I told Farida I would try and ask some volunteers if they wanted to foster the pups for a couple of days. Sruti and Reishabh agreed instantaneously :)

They picked the pups and told me that one of the pups was definitely injured and decided to bring them over to the RESQ Office Clinic.

Just Beautiful
They were 1 month old, both females, one black & white and one cream & white. They were 100% cocker spaniel mixes. Complete fur balls, immaculately clean, soft fur...just beautiful. I thought to myself - "these were definitely being looked after by someone".

...And then I saw the ghastly sight.
Both their tails had been docked at the exact same spot. They were infected and full of maggots. When I removed the syringe from its plastic, their ears perked up. I am certain they associated plastic sounds with food and got excited. Dr. Mhatre walked in just then..one look at the pups and he said "someone has done this to them...."

Someone probably did this to the entire litter. Maybe docked their tails because he/she was giving them off as cocker spaniel mix pups. Maybe managed to give off all the other pups and was left with these two females that he/she probably threw out in the middle of street...only to have Farida find them in horror.

What's going on
The black & white one looks exactly like a Panda. Sruti has named her 'Po' after the panda from Kung Fu Panda. The cream & white has been named 'Custard'.

Po and Custard are currently being fostered by Sruti & Reishabh. Their tails will be sutured up tomorrow and they'll be good to go within a week.

I am certain they will get adopted quickly...Their pictures and the rest of their tale will be updated here soon.

To Be Continued..