Give change a Chance – Tale of Two Ladies and One Gutsy Officer

It takes perseverance of two ladies and determination of one gutsy officer to correct years of wrong and make it right for years to come. Story of one such officer Shri. M. Abul Hassan IAS.

Acts of bravery don’t always take place on battlefields. They take place in your heart, when you have the courage to honour your character, your intellect, your inclinations, and yes, your soul by listening to its clean, clear voice of direction instead of following the muddied messages of a timid world.- Anna Quindlen

I have met great IAS and IPS officers in my 20 years of work for animals and remain grateful for their help in some of our huge, difficult and violent rescues, involving confiscation of trucks carrying cattle on the highway at night, which were being illegally and cruelly transported from Andhra to Kerala through TN for slaughter. Then again the support we have had from brilliant IPS/IFS officers who have supported us in our wild life rescues from circuses. – Dr. Shiranee Pereira, Co-founder, PFA Chennai.

Old practices change when civic bodies take action which requires courage. Regrettably, very few people possess courage, for courage is a deliberate choice one makes, it puts character to test, makes excuses like worthiness and size of the cause irrelevant, it challenges status quo and questions routine that expects you to do the same thing over and over again expecting different results.

Here is a story of one such remarkable IAS officer Mr. M. Abul Hassan, who took action, changed history and challenged cruelty and apathy. Narrated by two eminent ladies working for the voiceless with very limited resources and unlimited humanity; Dr. Shiranee Pereira and Ms. Marieen Vijay.

2nd October, 1995
Two decades have gone by … the file photo you see has not faded one bit so too memories of that day and the year that led to that day – October the 2nd 1995 – ‪#‎WorldAhimsaday !

Marieen and I (Dr. Shiranee) had walked the corridors of the Corporation of Chennai, day in and day out for more than a year. It was best said when the red turbaned Zufedar who would operate the lift to the Corporations Commissioners chamber remarked after months of meetings with the Corporation officials “Ennum onge vela mudiyeliya?” (You haven’t still got your work done?).

When we didn’t do that, we would take an auto rickshaw to the Pound where the electrocution used to go on – Marieen would courageously go in (really admired her for that) and rescue a few dogs and ofcourse the friendliest ones who were closest to the grill gate got saved. The frightened and frail ones got electrocuted that day. I recall supervisor of the pound Mr Rajendran telling both of us “Ongala mari neraya pera pathirukken. Idhu ellam nadakatha vishayam” (We have seen umpteen people like you both. This is not something you will succeed) and laughed at us and did everything he could to make life hell for us.

We are grateful to then Special Officer of the Corporation of Chennai, Shri. Abul Hasan, IAS who on our request

visited the dog pound on Sept. 22nd, 1995 only to see a little mound of electrocuted pups and the last black dog who was dragged by dog catcher Ramasamy to the electrocution chamber. Close to tears, he immediately summoned the Supervisor Mr. Rajendran and CI Mr. Mustafa of the dog pound and gave on the spot orders “This practice of electrocution will stop today”. We were euphoric – 72 years of history changed – where in 20,000 dogs used to be electrocuted every year would STOP!

To cut a long story short, and remembering with gratitude Shri. Abul Hasan IAS, Shri. Jothiragarajan IAS – Commissioner and Dr. Chinny Krishna (for getting us an appointment with Special officer) we are happy to say we walked through death, darkness to create one of India’s largest Animal Birth Control Programs doing on an average 10,000 dogs a year. We also thank our present Mayor and former Commissioner Shri. Vikram Kapur IAS for building the PFA a brand new ABC unit in 2015.

From an average of less than one dog per day in 1860, the number of dogs killed by the Corporation went upto as high as 135 dogs per day in 1995. It was clear by now that killing was not working as noted by S. Theodore Baskaran, the former Post Master General of Tamil Nadu states, “In the early 1970s, the number of stray dogs destroyed by the Madras Corporation was so high that the Central Leather Research Institute, Madras, designed products – such as neckties and wallets – from dog skins”.

It was in 1995, that the Corporation of Madras agreed to try out ABC as an alternative to killing in a part of Madras. With personal assurance from Mr. M. Abul Hassan, that he would personally monitor the effectiveness of the programme and that no dog which had been spayed and vaccinated would be caught. What happened on September 1995 in the pound was pioneering in many ways while Chennai and Jaipur were the first cities to start sustained ABC-AR programmes. Within six months, results were promising enough to prompt the Corporation to extend the programme to the whole of Chennai.

One man’s courage to take a decision against 72 years of practice paved way for more scientific approach towards stray animal population management as suggested by WHO (based on WSPA & WHO report authored by Dr. K. Bogel, Chief Veterinarian, Public Health Unit, WHO in Switzerland and John Hoytb). In 2001, India committed to ABC programme to manage stray animal population as the only scientific method. Indian legislators are contemplating replacing Animal Cruelty Act 1960 with Draft Animal Welfare Act 2011 which will allow stringent penalty for animal abuse, while granting right to welfare to the animals.

Much has happened in last 20 years in India and internationally, world community has accepted treatment to animals as an important social indicator. There is global outcry on unchecked animal cruelty and abuse for profits, many states in USA and European Unions have banned pet shops from selling animal to give fair chance of life to animal in shelters. The FBI now tracks animal abusers like it tracks homicide accused and has started to add animal cruelty cases to their national crime database.

India remains in the forefront of global community as a nation committed to eradicating animal abuse. India banned testing cosmetics and their ingredients on animals in 2014 in line with bans on cosmetics testing on animals in the European Union and Israel. To ensure this in letter, action and spirit India has banned import of animal tested cosmetics, first among South Asian countries.

This kind of societal change is not possible to achieve on human spirit alone for it needs policy amendments and change in attitude but above all steadfastness and whole hearted participation of governing officials to Give Change A Chance.

Hope you enjoyed reading this article as much as we enjoyed curating it for you.  Please do share your thoughts, success stories or simply your feedback at [email protected].

More: FBI.gov; PFA, Chennai; Bluecross.com