Delhiites are increasingly abandoning their old and sick dogs - pushing them out of their cars on the streets or dumping them outside the few animal shelters in the city.
Environmentalist Bahar Dutt was out on an evening walk with her dog when she spotted an ivory coloured Labrador with a bloated stomach, wailing and limping in the middle of the road. She took the dog to an animal shelter for a check-up and learnt that the dog had a heart condition.
"The vet said Suzie had an enlarged heart and that is why her stomach was bloated. I decided to bring her home," Dutt told PTI.
Suzie, said to be between 6 and 8 years, was probably abandoned because of her heart condition. "She is doing well after the medication and can even climb stairs now. I am sure had her original owners given her timely medical aid she wouldn't have to be dumped."
Suzie was lucky to have found a forever home with Dutt - an unlikely fate for most dogs.
Scores of old and sick Labradors and other pedigrees - with treatable maggot wounds and skin diseases - are being abandoned on the sly on the capital's roads.
Ajaydeep Singh, an IT consultant who runs Voice of Voiceless, has given a home to many homeless dogs, mostly ageing pedigrees.
A four-month-old Labrador diagnosed with distemper was dropped off at his home. "It was a well-to-do man who dropped off the pup. He had the money to get the pup treated, but didn't want to," said Singh.
In another case, he gave home to a two-year-old abandoned Labrador, who was later found to have two tumours.
"We got her treated and she has been with me for three years.
