The Sad Plight of the Horn-Cancer Bull
Mangaluru: This is the story of a magnificent creation of God, who somehow took a wrong turn somewhere – a massive buffalo bull black and brown in colour, of around 12 – 15 years old, who somehow managed to make the highway of the New Mangalore Port Trust, at Panambur, Mangalore, his home for approximately almost a year now.
His origin is a mystery, but his presence was initially noted by Nischal Shetty, an enthusiastic volunteer with Animal Care Trust {ACT}, a person who pays special attention to accident cases or injuries, brought to his notice, in and around that area. He has been instrumental in trying to save, together with his team of friends, animals in distress of all types. However this bull in concern, proved to be quite an elusive one, as although shy, could become very aggressive at the spur of the moment, if he felt provoked. And then he would just charge and disappear into the forested belt of that area.
It was in the 1st week of March – March 7th to be exact, when a member of ACT, got a call about another bull in the vicinity, with a mutilated horn and he took it up immediately on himself to try and do what possible to save them. First trying to befriend the bulls and then giving them bananas to gain their trust and then finally giving them bananas, laced with medicines. The second black bull, slowly got accustomed to this and with the same tedious process, of this ACT member on his daily visits, slowly came to a much healthier condition when his wound healed. The first bull, however showed his true attitude to the medicines and would slowly but surely walk away whenever this member or anybody else tried to approach him.
In the meantime, Nischal Shetty, kept trying every trick in the book to catch hold of the bull, so that they could start treatment, while in a safe and cleaner environment. But to no avail. Yes it might look funny, from a bystander to see around 10 adult tough men, run helter-skelter in all possible directions, being chased by a raging bull, but rest assured its not a joke to be at the receiving end, specially when the bull started to become more aggressive than he already was.
In the meantime, other ideas such as using tranquilizers and sedating the bull, had to be crossed out, as the Veterinary Doctors confirmed that the tranquiler darts could only be used by trained, professional Rangers, in prescribed environments, usually for wild animals – and being in public, in broad daylight, with heavy vehicular movement and continuous public movement, a small mistake could prove fatal.
Just a few days back, however, everyone has suddenly been aroused, with the premature spurt of social media. The bull who’s been in the news all over these days near the Kulur bridge is one and the same, a horn-cancer patient. The growth on the head is cancer and those concerned with the Animal Care Trust are not just aware of it but are already working on the case. The A. C. T. had initially got the health condition diagnosed and we really appreciate the concern of kind-hearted people reporting the incident.
However at the same time, it would be nice to remind everyone that many people are trying to misuse some innocent animals’ health condition to malign the Organisation’s hard work of 2 decades. While A.C.T. is grateful to everyone for their genuine concern about the case, the public should know that we have already been working on this case for the last many months. As the bull suffers from horn cancer and needs surgical amputation, we have been putting in our best efforts regularly to trap him so that we could carry out the surgical procedure immediately. Sadly he is an untamed, wild one and extremely alert. While he manages to escape every single time, there is also a huge risk involved as it a busy highway and every time he runs amok, its always a huge risk to him and the traffic as well, reason being that the highway is right next there.
Sedating is not an option according to the veterinary doctors A.C. T. has consulted, as it is life-threatening due to his health condition. What you could do? Help us find people who are experts at trapping wild bulls with the help of ropes/nets etc. They say a helping hand is better than many praying lips, you could even join us in catching him.
We need people, we need ideas, we need people ready to work on the ground and not just sitting at homes, cursing us that we haven’t done anything yet. If only sharing posts on social media could save animals there wouldn’t be a need of any Animal Shelter or Animal Welfare Departments anywhere in the world. We are jointly working with the Animal Husbandry Dept, Government Officials and Administration. In fact attached here is yesterday’s letter written by the Animal Husbandry Department to the District Administration seeking permission for tranquilizers.
If all goes well and the bull is caught safely, A.C.T. is willing to extend its fullest support in anyways possible. We will need volunteers for Post-Operative Care as well to help our Staff so you can opt to help us out that way as well.
Just like there have been hundreds of shares on social media about no one doing anything about the bulls condition we earnestly hope, that we will have hundreds of people coming forward now with the promise of helping the bull the practical way as well. Please inbox your name and phone number on our Animal Care Trust Page so that we can get in touch with you to co ordinate. Thank you, on behalf of the Animal Care Trust
by Shawn Fernandez, Mangaluru, Ph: 9845389937