Most bullock cart owners in India are too poor to spend even the smallest amount of money on veterinary care for their bullocks and can’t afford to feed animals whose working days are behind them. That’s when they sell these worn-out souls for slaughter. But some escape that. Animal Rahat provides a retirement home for a lucky few of these gentle animals. The Home for Retired Bullocks is a place where working animals can live out their lives in peace and get all the rest, nutritious food, and veterinary care they need after a life of grueling work. Retired bullocks find friendship and peace at their new home, where they walk free, enjoying the good life.                                                                                                     

All over India, donkeys and other animals spend their lives hauling heavy loads and being overworked until they become incapacitated or die. They are forced to carry enormous loads of bricks, iron, sugarcane, and cinder blocks that are too heavy for them. When nursed back to health, the donkeys go to our sister sanctuary in the Nilgiri Hills, where there is cool air, green grass, and shade trees. They spend a wonderful life there together, in open fields, grazing in peace and freedom and enjoying excellent veterinary care and lots of love.

The Animal Rahat scouts are also on the lookout for suffering dogs, and they don’t need to look far. There are dogs in need everywhere and thanks to Animal Rahat, many are cured of mange—which left to its own course, causes the dogs’ skin to redden and peel and their fur to fall off, preventing them from being able to sleep or even sometimes eat due to constant itching.

While out scouting, they also find dogs who have been hit by cars, who have fallen into wells, and who are suffering from other diseases. Those who need intensive care are brought back to Animal Rahat’s sanctuary, quarantined, given treatment, and then put up for adoption when they are well.

At a festival called the Kartiki fair, horses are forced to dance while wearing spiked bits, which tear at their mouths. At the fair, Animal Rahat treats horses who have suffered from eye infections and other ailments, distributes dozens of free face harnesses for bullocks to replace the use of painful nose ropes, and erects a poster gallery with photographs showing cruel treatment of horses and bullocks. This exhibit attracts hundreds of visitors, and Animal Rahat tells them about the harm caused by whips, yoke spikes, overloaded carts, dehydration, malnutrition, and other abuses. Animal Rahat also stopped the sale of spiked bits at the fair.

Animal Rahat also rescues wildlife. This pond heron was a beneficiary of Animal Rahat’s vigilance. One of the scouts saw that the bird had been caught by a poacher. The scout seized the heron, warned the man against catching birds in the future, checked to make sure there were no injuries, and released the bird so that she could fly away.

Elephant Sunder is in his new home at the Bannerghatta Biological Park, where he lives in peace with many other elephants, including his friend, baby Shiva.

Animal Rahat wishes peace and joy to all beings this holiday season.