Earlier this year, police horse Shaktiman sustaining injury and his subsequent death had elicited national and international attention with a team of international veterinarians and prosthetic piece also being brought from abroad for the injured police horse after amputation. However, the local administration and level of general public sensitivity appears to have changed little considering the situation experienced by an ‘abandoned’ horse found with a deep bleeding gash running from the point of its shoulder to the underbelly in a corner of the Parade Ground on Wednesday morning.
A couple of watchmen who had come forward to the injured equine’s aid at about 9 am phoned the authorities concerned after which a chief veterinary pharmacist reached the site and administered pain killers and antibiotics while also applying pressure to stall bleeding.
After phone calls were made to various officials and activists by those present at the site including media persons, an ambulance was finally arranged to transport the horse for treatment hours after it was found.
One of the departmental workers posted on the ground requesting anonymity fearing official ‘action’ said that they had come across the horse with a bleeding wound on the Parade Ground early on Wednesday morning at about 9 am.
They phoned the departments concerned while also asking media persons in the adjoining Press club to help facilitate swift response. “We phoned the animal husbandry department and the municipal corporation of Dehradun with official initially passing the buck or assuring action when possible. They sent the chief pharmacist who applied pressure to stop the bleeding and administered painkillers to the horse,” said the watchman.
The chief pharmacist Pl Mamgain on site, said that he had administered pain killers and antibiotics to the injured horse after which the veterinarian doctor Kailash Uniyal also reached the site to assess the condition.
The horse appeared to have sustained the wound after getting entangled in a metallic fencing or the wire mesh partition placed on the ground.
The Dehradun district chief veterinary officer Dr RS Negi informed The Pioneer that initially problems were faced when the horse could not be made to board the ambulance vehicle. “later, the mounted police helped place him on the vehicle which took him to the mounted police section in the police line. The horse was administered stitches, antibiotics and necessary treatment at the police lines under our veterinarian Dr Kailash Uniyal. The horse was then transported to the Raahat animal shelter where the voluntary organisation will be providing post-operative care to the horse,” he said.
Regarding the condition of the horse, Dr Negi said that the quantity of blood loss soon after the injury was sustained may have made the situation appear worse. losing about a litre of blood generally does not pose a life threatening situation for a horse with timely treatment stabilizing the condition of the equine.