Category: animals


“Sir, I don’t think I can do that.” The frogs, still alive, had been brought into the classroom for dissection, and the Science Master was looking over the frog that had been placed right in front of the young Chinny Krishna. The frog was alive and the task at hand was first to kill the frog with a pin – and then to dissect it.

It had been an eventful time already for thirteen-year-old Chinny. Just a few months before, the boy had watched in alarm as a bus carrying members of the football team capsized. Without hesitating, Chinny, who was big for his age, ran straight to the bus, and pulled first one, then the other, of two brothers, both team players, out of the bus. The boys were bleeding badly, and Chinny’s white shirt was drenched in blood. Off they went to the hospital. Thanks to his quick action, both boys’ lives were saved.

Shortly after that dramatic rescue – at St. Joseph’s European High School, in Bangalore, in the south of India, the Science Master stood by Chinny’s table, requiring him to kill an animal. Coming from a family with a deep love for animals, this was a task that he simply could not do. He repeated, “Sir, I can’t do that.” The Science Master, unhesitatingly, sent him off to the principal’s office, with a note that said simply “Six of the best!”

“Six of the best” meant six strikes on one hand with a cane. Corporal punishment was very common for schoolboys in those days – in the 1950’s. The principal recognized him and asked, “Aren’t you the one who pulled the two boys out of the bus a few weeks ago?”

During their conversation, the young Chinny attempted to make the point that biology is the study of life, and that it wasn’t logical to study life by killing an animal. This point though didn’t seem to resonate very much.

The principal did not cane him; however, he did say firmly, about killing and dissecting the frog “You have to do it. I don’t think you can continue in this school if you refuse.”

Out the door

For refusing to harm the frog, Chinny was expelled from school, although he was allowed to complete the school year before leaving.

The reason he was allowed to stay until the end of the year was that if he had been expelled halfway through the year, he would not have been admitted to any other school that year, and that would have had lasting repercussions for his entire future. As a student in the eleventh grade, the next year he would be in the twelfth grade. His attendance at school would have had a bearing on which university he could attend – and on all his future prospects in life.

Chinny and his older brother, Suresh, who was also a brilliant student, were the only two boys in the school who were vegetarians and who did not eat meat. It was known that their family cared about animals.

St Joseph’s was a boarding school in Bangalore, India. Chinny’s parents lived in the neighboring state of Tamil Nadu, with his younger sister. His mother had spent a great deal of time and effort getting him into that school, which was an excellent school, and she was really devastated by what had happened. It was hard to talk on the phone in India in those days, so they exchanged letters. Clearly, she was profoundly upset and very worried about her son’s future.

Chinny knew of another school called Clarence High School. So, he took it upon himself to speak with the principal there and explain the situation. The principal at that school was from Australia and had been a lifeguard there. He did not seem too bothered by the frog incident. He pointed out to Chinny that, if he were admitted to Clarence High School, he would still lose six marks, which would be subtracted from his grade. Chinny was fine with that. He joined the school.

A bright future despite a rocky start

The young Chinny’s future life was, in fact, spectacularly successful. After high school, he spent five years in the U.S., first attending a university and then working as a research scientist. He then returned to India and started a highly successful company that created a global business, Aspick Engineering, which has among its many remarkable projects, manufactured some of the parts used in India’s satellites.

The young Chinny also succeeded his father, Captain Sundaram, as the head of Blue Cross of India, which was the first and remains the largest and best known of the thousands of modern animal rescue groups that are active in India today.

Dr. Chinny Krishna, along with a few others, has been instrumental in the passage of India’s very enlightened animal welfare laws and regulations. He is a dynamic force in the worldwide animal welfare movement.

Finally banning dissection

In 1998, thanks in large measure to the hard work fought over many decades by Dr. Chinny Krishna against experimentation on animals, dissection was finally banned in all schools in India below university level. The first step, in 1996, had been to make dissection optional for the students, then, finally, in 1998, dissection was finally banned for good.

Dr. Chinny Krishna also created the computer program Compu-frog – and other programs featuring animals commonly used in dissection. These inventive programs enabled students to learn all the information required – through computer images alone — without any real animals being killed or dissected.

Continued in Part Two….

Sixty years later…

The fight to ban killing and dissecting animals in schools was just one aspect of much progress in protecting animals in India; especially dogs and cats, but also cows, horses, dolphins, circus animals, birds, and wildlife.

For his outstanding contribution to animal welfare over many decades, Dr. Chinny Krishna was recently given the prestigious Prani Mitra award, as well as the Winsome Constance Kindness Trust Award.

When he was awarded the Prani Mitra Award, his old school, St Joseph’s, honored him with the very special OBA Life Time Achievement Award. Remarkably, this was the same school that had once expelled him – over sixty years before.

India’s reverence for animals has been a theme throughout thousands of years of history. India has a long history of kindness and reverence for the world of nature and for animals. The efforts and vision of Chinny Krishna and others have served to ensure that this fundamental heritage of kindness remains firmly at the center of India’s laws and regulations.

The school that had expelled him for refusing to kill a frog took this opportunity to honor his life and accomplishments.

As part of the ceremony, in a beautifully written testimony, St Joseph’s school recounted a number of Dr. Chinny Krishna’s life achievements.

Here are just a few paragraphs from the citation. (They have been edited for length):

“At a time when television was a rarity even in urban India, your company Aspick Engineering participated in setting up TV sets for community viewing in schools and Panchayat centers in 2,400 villages in six States: Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Rajasthan. The life of the dish was supposed to be 15 years but, remarkably, 45 years later, they are still in use…

You campaigned to have dissection banned in schools and colleges. Dissection is now banned all over India in all schools below the university level.

In 1964 you pioneered the first population management anti-rabies program for street dogs in the world, called Animal Birth Control – Anti Rabies, or ABC-AR in short. This was the world’s first – and longest continuing — street dog spay/neuter program – it continues through today. The ABC program is the national policy of India – and an example for many nations.

You served as Vice Chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) from 2000 to 2016… You were a Member of CPCSEA (Committee for the Purpose of Control of Scientific Experiments on Animals) from 1996 to 2002 and later from 2010 to 2017… Even today, you continue to serve as Chairman Emeritus, Blue Cross of India, and Chairman Emeritus, Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organization (FIAPO).

Dr. Chinny Krishna, you are a true exemplar of the spirit… of St. Joseph’s Boys’ High School.

May your benevolent presence continue to cast a protective shadow over animals in India for many more years to come, keeping them safe from abuse and ensuring that they live life on their terms.”

In his lifelong dedication to animals, the boy who wouldn’t kill a frog – Dr. Chinny Krishna – continues to be a powerful voice and a presence for the protection of India’s animals and an inspiration to all of us, around the world, who seek peace, blessings, and well-being for all animals.

By Sharon St Joan

Photo credit: Velu

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By Tyag Krishnamurthy

Isha is a sweet girl of about five. She now runs around with a sprightliness that would put a ballet dancer to shame. But she wasn’t this way when she was picked up a couple of months back by Blue Cross of India Rescues from the outskirts of Chennai.

She had a hernia the size of a soccer ball in her lower abdomen and could barely walk and was in great pain and discomfort. A complex surgery was done immediately to fix the hernia. After that it was a long haul – a month of post-operative care. Isha regained her strength steadily, amazing the caregivers with her ability to bounce back.

With every week, Isha grew in strength and has almost transformed into a brand new healthy, happy dog; no longer in pain or discomfort, always up for a cuddle, and enjoys a nice snooze in anyone’s arms.

From the Blue Cross of India newsletter Q4 2022
https://www.bluecrossofindia.org/blog/

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During 2022, Blue Cross of India rescued 11,000 animals,
spayed or neutered nearly 8,000 city dogs and cats and rehomed nearly 2,000 animals.

To help Blue Cross save even more animals, click on the donate button in the upper right. You can specify that you’d like your donation to go to Blue Cross! Many thanks!

Orlando Mayorquin USA TODAY https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/08/20/endangered-sea-turtle-smallest-found-louisiana/7843113001/ 0:25 SKIP https://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.525.0_en.html#goog_1769521937 Louisiana officials announced they discovered the hatchlings of the world’s smallest sea turtle species on an island just off the coast of New Orleans for the first time in 75 years. Officials identified at least 53 sea turtle crawls (the unique paths turtles impress in the sand […]

World’s tiniest sea turtle species discovered nesting in Louisiana for first time in 75 years — The Extinction Chronicles

Musuni Letura, Kenyan wildlife expert and friend of Forest Voices of India, has created this video of the annual migration of the wildebeests and the zebras – the largest, or one of the largest, animal migrations on earth. It is an amazing sight. Please enjoy watching!

By Keerthana Nithyakumar

“Oh, my God! Is that Brook? I couldn’t recognize him. Look at his gorgeous fur!” one of the Blue Cross volunteers exclaimed while all heads turned to admire the transformation of Brook, the once mange-infected dog.

You could see the look of pure joy and satisfaction on the volunteers’ faces. Indeed, nothing matches the moment of witnessing the result of a job well done!

Flashback to a few weeks ago when the same volunteers met Brook and his friends for the first time, things were polar opposite. With patches of hair loss exposing his skin, he looked uncomfortable.

The volunteers jumped into action with an unspoken single-minded resolve. While one gently caught hold of the startled dog and comforted him, the other started bathing him with medicinal shampoos. This way, like clockwork, the purpose-driven volunteers started treating the mange-infected dogs, one at a time, with utmost gentleness and compassion.

While a few of the dogs were happy to bask in the attention and care of the volunteers, most of them, who seemed traumatized, came around in their own time. Pacified, bathed, nourished, and cared for, all they needed was time, the great healer, to make the real magic happen. As the days filled with diligent efforts and patience rolled by, the progress was so subtle that everyone was happily startled that day when Brook pounced on the gates, anticipating the arrival of volunteers to show off his sprouting fur, visibly blossoming into a new life inside out!

Sadly, mange is a skin disease common in street dogs and puppies, caused by malnutrition and the stress of street life. They all appear beyond hope, but as we have witnessed in the many miracle dog stories like Brook, even serious cases can be treated effectively.

This is not just wishful thinking but the firsthand experience of Blue Cross, India’s largest animal welfare organization, located in Chennai, in the south of India. And with the dedicated caregivers and diligent volunteers by their side, Blue Cross of India is working to create a better life for these fur angels, one Brook at a time!

Photo: Velu TM, Blue Cross of India

Port Blair, South Andaman Island

Bird of the Day: Ruddy Kingfisher — Organikos

May 2022 bring blessings for the earth! Happiness, peace, protection, and well-being for all the trees and plants, for the mountains, the oceans, the rivers, the forests, the deserts, and all wild lands. May all wild creatures be blessed and free in the wild – and all animals everywhere be safe, protected, and happy. May all the peoples of the earth be blessed and touched with a spirit of kindness. May ancient traditions be once again revered and respected, honoring the Earth and all Her children!

Forest Voices of India

Dr. Chinny Krishna

Puppies saved from a storm drain

In December of 1959, just outside the gate of a house, two very small puppies (later named Shaggy and Grimmy – after Grimaldi) were in a tight spot. Water from a storm was rushing into a storm drain where the two puppies, about three weeks old were clinging to branches and bits of rubbish as the water rushed through. A teenager, Chinny Krishna, who was 14, was holding onto his father so that he didn’t slip, as his father leaned way over, at some risk to his own life, to rescue the puppies. His dad managed to pull them out of the drain, and they brought them into the house.

Chinny’s mother wiped them dry and bottle fed them baby formula. They stayed and lived to be around 14 or 15. His mother, sometimes with his sister Viji’s help, did all the work of looking after their animals.

The rescue of the puppies from the storm drain was, in some ways, the beginning point of Blue Cross of India – now known throughout India and internationally, as the earliest, the largest, and the most effective of the modern-day animal shelters in India.

Today the name Blue Cross of India is more or less synonymous with animal welfare in India. Known throughout India, Blue Cross is based in Chennai, where it officially began in 1964.

Founded by Captain Sundaram, Usha Sundaram, and their son, the young Chinny Krishna (now Dr. Chinny Krishna, Chairman Emeritus of Blue Cross), over the past sixty years, the organization has grown from small beginnings to a huge animal welfare group that spays/neuters and vaccinates against rabies 10,000 animals each year, while sending out its ambulances on rescue missions all over the city of Chennai to save injured animals on the street, running an excellent veterinary service for the public, taking in street animals in distress – dogs, cats, cows, and others and finding loving homes for them – just to touch on a few of their primary activities. The leadership of Blue Cross has been instrumental in ensuring that India has some of the most enlightened animal welfare laws in the world.

In the future, we will write much more about all the current work of Blue Cross, but here for the moment, are just a few stories about the beginning days of Blue Cross – one of the most beloved animal organizations in India. These are told from the perspective of Dr. Krishna, who was then the young Chinny Krishna.

Though his dad was a highly effective voice for animals and one of the first of the modern animal advocates, it was Chinny’s mother, Usha Sundaram, who spent endless hours from early morning until late at night feeding and caring for the first rescued animals. She was also – amazingly – the first woman pilot in India and flew alongside her husband (who was a pilot who often flew various dignitaries) on flights when he served as the pilot for Prime Minister Nehru. With her duties to care for the animals at home, she did not fly a lot, but was sometimes indispensable to help with flying the Prime Minister or his guests.

Rescuing animals – big and small

Another of the early rescues was a small brown Indian squirrel, one of those with three stripes down his back, as a baby, had fallen from a tree, so they brought him in and took care of him. The squirrel became quite fond of Chinny’s dad and liked to rest in his necktie. He used to run around freely in a room. After a while, they began taking the squirrel out to try to get it wild, which eventually succeeded. After five or six months, he spent most of his time outside and then moved out back into the trees, where he lived his life in freedom. Now, of course, care of wildlife is well regulated by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, but in those days kind people simply did their best to help.

A great idea

By 1959, the future Blue Cross already had quite a few animals and had some volunteers coming in to help.

Mr. D. Devasigamoli who was the vice president of the SPCA, was a frequent visitor to their house. He was a former football (soccer) player and was the national president of the football society of Madras.

One evening, early in 1960, he dropped by their house and they began to talk about what more could be done to help animals. The SPCA at the time was not as actively engaged as it might have been with animal rescue, and they felt that something more was needed to help animals. They formed an organization which, for the first couple of years, was called the Animal Aid Association. After that, they called it Blue Cross.

Soon, his dad had converted his car into an ambulance. One of the early animals that they rescued was a small calf.

Dawn Williams, Resident Manager of Blue Cross with a calf

A bull finds a home

The delivery men who delivered milk to people’s houses used to bring along an actual cow with them. At each house the man would milk the cow, then leave the milk in a container. When Chinny was 15, someone called their family to say that a small male calf had been abandoned, probably by one of the milkmen. Chinny went on his bicycle to check. In a neighborhood of fairly large single houses, there was a young calf, about three weeks old, lying down outside one of the homes.

Chinny cycled back home, reported this to his parents, and his mom and dad drove back in the car to pick up the calf. The calf was not looking good and was very dehydrated. A veterinarian friend of theirs, Dr. Narahari came by to attend to the calf and treated him – after which he perked up quite a bit. In their house there was a big bathing room with a boiler, about fifteen feet by fifteen feet. The calf spent most of his time there until he got bigger and graduated to going outside to roam in the yard and the garden. They didn’t give him a name because, by now they were realizing that it wasn’t good to become too attached to each animal. Some of them they were able to find homes for. Two years later they found a good home for the bull with a family who had a large house on an acre of land in an area of Madras called Adyar.

Check back for future stories about Blue Cross and the kind and compassionate animal welfare practices in India.

Photos:

First photo: Sharon St Joan
Second photo: Blue Cross of India
Third Photo: Blue Cross of India
Fourth photo: Sharon St Joan

“This is what happens when you instill in the children the values of life, love, respect, kindness and compassion for animals. Mamai and her two cute dogs are so friendly as a result of her participation in LAWCS’ humane education program. The dogs are relaxing because they have trust and confidence in Mamai.”

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“The results of our humane education are real and physical. The connection between the kids and the animals is so fascinating. This is Cecelia and her lovely pet dog “CHAMPION ”. According to Cecelia, her participation in LAWCS humane education program has greatly cemented her love and affection for animals.”

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For more information, or if you’d like to donate to the Liberia Animal Welfare and Conservation Society, please visit their Facebook page or their website at https://liberiaanimalwelfaresociety.org

Photos and text in quotes: Liberia Animaal Welfare and Conservation
Society