Human tragedy, yes, but what about the animals in Wayanad, ask activists

Heart-rending sights

There are heart-rending sights of pet dogs woefully sitting out in the cold and the rain outside mounds of rubble which was once their home, waiting patiently for their masters to emerge.

Puthiya Thalamurai reporter Balavetrivel N, reporting from Wayanad, recounted the sad story of a dog which was barking furiously outside its house, which had been completely destroyed in the landslide. The owners had all perished.

"It seems like the dog has been deeply affected. It stood in front of the empty spot which was once its home, barking away endlessly. Though it was cold, the dog continued to sit there, upset with the disappearance of the house and its owners," recounted Balavetrivel.

Jumbo white knight

But, the story involving Sujatha Aninanchira, a tea picker at Harrisons Malayalam Tea Estate in the worst-affected Mudakkai for 18 years, and her family’s tryst with a giant tusker has gone viral on social media.

On July 30, Sujatha, her husband, daughter and her two children miraculously survived the landslide that turned their home into rubble. They managed to extricate themselves and fled towards the forest on top of a hillock to find a safe spot.

When they found a spot near a tree, to their horror, they also spotted three wild elephants standing just a metre away. They were too petrified to move and Sujatha felt they were trapped.

Stoned, abused

However, she shut her eyes and mumbled a prayer to one of the elephants that looked on impassively at her. "We were so close to the tusker’s legs, but it seemed to understand our predicament. We stayed there till 6 am,” she recounted to the media.

The same wild elephants that were abused, stoned and hated in the area stood guard by the family till they were rescued. Sujata also said that she saw tears in the eyes of the elephants when dawn broke. Were they sad because of the destruction that nature had wrought on the land they roamed and loved?

Even shorn of the melodrama, the tale touches a chord.

Grim situation for animals

However, for animals in the landslide-hit Wayanad today, the situation is grim.

There is no one taking care of them or feeding them as they wander around searching for their owners, said Ambili Purackal, founder member and coordinator of Daya, an animal welfare organisation in Ernakulum.

In her view, these animals, be it pet dogs or cats or big animals like cows and buffaloes, need to be immediately repatriated. Many may have also escaped into the forest where they can become prey to wild animals.

According to Purackal, the authorities have not given animal rights activists permission to enter the disaster zone to take care of the animals. The situation for them is worse than it was during the 2018 floods, she said.

During the 2018 floods, Purackal was rescued along with her 32 dogs from the terrace of her home, after been stranded for several days.

Structured care needed

“I have seen pictures of two buffaloes being rescued from the rubble at the Wayanad disaster site but their care has to be more structured. We need to find the animals, give them medicines, relief and house them till their owners are found or they get adopted," she said.

"In fact, we are getting many calls from people offering to adopt the pets abandoned or orphaned after the landslide,” she added.

“We can relocated the big animals to a gaushala (cowshed) at Kasargod and the small animals to shelters. We are also getting offers to house the pets until the owners get better too,” she revealed. This kind of work requires a lot of coordination and right now the rescue workers cannot get into all this.

We are waiting for permission to enter ground zero, she said. 

'Prioritise humans'

Meanwhile, a captain from the Madras Engineering Group (MEG), who wanted to remain anonymous, told The Federal that military officials involved in the rescue operations have been instructed by their superiors to rescue human beings first, followed by pet animals.

"We have recovered several bodies of people trapped in the landslide mud from buried houses. We still hope some people are in breathing condition when we recover them, and we are praying for it so that they can receive proper medical treatment in hospitals. However, after two days, we are losing hope," he said, adding that hundreds of people are still under the earth, and locating the completely buried houses is not easy. 

"We have found many cattle, dogs, cats, etc., but we do not focus on lifting their bodies as they will remain in that condition. If there are any signs of breathing, we try to lift them, but it is not our priority," he added.

Veterinary attention

An animal care volunteer, George Thomas, said that they are available to help any animals in need of medical attention and take them to veterinary hospitals.

"We have requested the rescue personnel to also consider rescuing animals, but their priority is correct at this time. We can't force them, as human life is more precious," he said. Many animals are already dead in the disaster area and cannot be helped, he added.

Another rescue personnel from the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) stated that several animals, including dogs and cattle, are still spotted in safe regions or island-like spots that were created during the landslide. They have taken refuge there for the time being.

But it is not clear at this point who will rescue and rehabilitate them, the SDRF personnel added.

(With inputs from Naveen Ammembela and Kavitha Shanmugam)