As an angel for the Animal Rahat program, you are helping an ever-widening circle of animals used for grueling labor in India. It’s very exciting!

Let me give you a typical case that the Animal Rahat team handles, this one involving a bullock named Nandi—ironically the name of Lord Shiva’s favorite bull.

Animal Rahat received a call from Nandi’s owner, who feared that the animal had stomach pain. The team immediately went to the owner’s home and found Nandi standing stock-still with an anxious expression on his face. After examining Nandi and interviewing the owner, they discovered that the bullock had not been fed properly and was also badly limping because of a shoulder sprain.

Animal Rahat veterinarians immediately administered fluid therapy and ginger to fix Nandi’s digestive problems and analgesics to ease the pain from the sprain. They also prescribed several days of rest to allow his shoulder to heal. Lastly, they told the owner about the distress caused by nose ropes.

Thankfully, the owner was receptive to everything that the vets said, promptly agreed to give Nandi the appropriate amount of rest, and immediately removed the nose rope! The Animal Rahat team provided him with a morkee (face harness) to use instead. When they followed up, Nandi had improved remarkably.

Animal Rahat has put a lot of effort into dissuading people from using nose ropes, and it’s gratifying to see that a growing number of people are adapting to the use of morkees.