Late one night when an Animal Rahat staff member slowed down his car as he approached a crossroads, frantic movements inside a plastic bag beside the road caught his attention.

When he got out of his car for a closer look, he noticed that there were two bags, both with coconuts and flowers hanging out of them. But who was making them jump about?

Peering in, he saw that each bag contained a terrified hen whose legs had been tightly bound. He knew what he had come across: Someone had covered the poor chickens in turmeric and coconut water and left them at the crossroads in the hope that the cruel ritual would cure the sores the superstitious person was no doubt suffering from. The team member quickly untangled the chickens and called for an Animal Rahat ambulance to transport them to safety.

Traumatized but luckily uninjured, the pair are now safe and beginning to relax at the Sangli sanctuary, where only kind “spells” are cast.