Yak ‘Bahubali’ (Hoof No: C-151) and pony ‘Madhu’ (Hoof No: E-1254) , part of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Animal Transport Wing, have bagged special service medals for delivering tonnes of rations, equipment and ammunition to forward posts along the Indo-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Sikkim and Ladakh sectors respectively.
While 10-year-old Madhu has carried a total of 59,821 kg of load during her seven years of service in the Ladakh sector, Bahubali (9.6 years) has walked for 2,348 kms and carried 7,818 kg during the same service period, ITBP officials said.
The medals are given annually to those members of the Animal Transport Wing who rendered exceptional services and undertook some of the most arduous journeys on the hills to reach remote border posts of the ITBP, they said.
According to official data, the Animal Transport Wing — comprising ponies, mules and yaks — carried a total of 30,45,019 kg load as its members walked over 3,43,593 km in 2022 alone. The animals carry clothing, dry rations, fuel, ammunition, packaged food and other items to border posts.
These posts are located at high altitudes from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh ranging from a height of 8,000-16,000 ft.
The medals were given to the two winners at their respective border posts on the occasion of the ITBP Raising Day that was celebrated on October 24. While ponies can be brought up to the plains, yaks are usually deployed at posts located at a height of 15,000 feet or above as they cannot sustain themselves below this height, officials said.
"These medals are a testimony to our darling ponies, mules and yaks who have served the Force by keeping the AOM (axis of maintenance) alive at border outposts by ensuring that our troops are well supplied in high altitude deployments. These loving and loyal animals are our life-line. The veterinary cadre ensures the welfare of our four legged heroes by ensuring 24x7 therapeutics along with the good care provided by the AT (Animal Transport) personnel," Deputy Inspector General (Veterinary) Sudhakar Natarajan told The Pioneer.
The ITBP had instituted the "Animal Transport" and a "K9" (canine) medal in 2016 to honour the services of its four-legged soldiers who help the troops to maintain the logistics and supply lines at high-altitude border posts along the LAC.
The ITBP, having an operational strength of about 98,000 personnel, secures the 3,488 km long LAC apart from rendering a variety of other duties in the internal security domain besides also protecting Indian missions abroad.
