When Dr. Edwin Singam was a young vet, he witnessed a mother elephant trying to push a smaller elephant that was lying on the road. A truck carrying timber had knocked her baby down. Seven other elephants surrounded the mother. The truck driver was hiding under his truck in fear. Elephants are known for their memory – and they recognised the truck. The highway Dr. Edwin was on was starting to get congested, it was a dangerous situation for all drivers as too much noise might enrage the wild 3-metre tall mammals. Elephants can cause rampage.
Dr. Edwin realised then that not only were humans taking over the foraging areas of the animals, but they were, in Dr. Edwin’s words, “knocking down their babies as well!” After that incident, he became more involved in wildlife and breeding programmes, but it was not until he was in his fifties did he realise something profound. His assistant who lived near him shared that she left her house gates open for the neighbourhood dogs to come in and have something to eat. He thought: why was I only feeding my pets when I could feed more?
People can continue feeding animals out of compassion, but the root cause of animals on the streets is actually overpopulation and abandonment – and this needs to be addressed. Irresponsible pet owners allow their pets to breed and be left on the streets because they can’t handle this responsibility themselves. Dr. Edwin began trapping, neutering, and releasing animals hanging around eateries and the streets in his vicinity.
His team rescue cats and dogs on the streets and bring them to his clinic for neutering. The animals are taken care of for a few days, then released back to the streets or picked up for adoption. On average, he neuters 100 animals per month. According to Dr. Edwin, cats are easier to trap than dogs. For dogs, the trapping process is trickier as dogs can smell their car approaching and hide. As a result, they need to drive around in different vehicles to trap the dogs.
Dr. Edwin has noticed a change in pet owners coming in with animals. It used to be only adults who brought in animals. These days, mimicking parents, children are stepping into his clinic with sick animals they find, offering the few cents they have to care for their newfound furry friends. Children now tell their parents to treat or feed the stray animals they see. He has even “treated” a teddy bear a girl brought in for “vaccination”. It was important for him to entertain her request, though silly, as he believes his actions will make an impression on her growing up.
Believing in the potential of children, Dr. Edwin wishes to teach school-going children how to properly care for animals. He wants children to understand the importance of wildlife ecosystems so as to not disrupt it; humans do not have the absolute right to the land they robbed from animals in their natural habitat. After all, homosapiens are not the only species on this Earth.
