He prayeth well who loveth well….

Lot of people talk about prevention of cruelty to animals and about banning cow slaughter. But unfortunately less done than talked. The most of the people who go on talking about this do nothing. The moment they find the milking cow is of no use or the maintenance of their working animals is at a loss they immediately sell it to the butchers. Though the slaughtering of cows and working animals is banned, the nexus between the butchers and the authorities make the law a laughing stock.

Even if any sincere officer takes action and ceases animals he himself finds a problem in handing over the animals. With all these things in mind a society was found under the kindest inspiration of Maharaja of Mysore His Highness Shri JayaChamarajendra Wodeyar in 1938. He donated 60 acres of land at foot of Chamundi Hills to protect and take care of old and disabled, speechless animals. At the same time H.E. Shri Rana Lakshman Singhji also donated 60 acres of land at Udboor village. The name of the society is Mysore Pinjrapole Society.

The society was established by late Shri Moolchand Jeevan das in 1938. They look after the disabled, sick and aged animals. Apart from this a lot of cows are brought here when they are seized by the law while being transported to Kasaragod, Mangalore, Doddaballapur, Chennai and Somavarpet etc. It has received thousands of cows and cattle going for illegal slaughter and seized by police and Akhila Karnataka Gau Raksha Sangh under different legal acts and provisions.

There is vast pasture for the animals to graze. They also feed them twice daily. Apart from cows and buffalos there are many dogs, goats, sheep, asses, horses, hens, parrots and pigeons.

The society has constructed more than 40,000 sq. ft. of cowsheds, complete boundary wall etc out of voluntary donations notably from Jain community. Singhavi trust from Chennai donated cowshed measuring 8,000 sq. ft. But the response from the state government is very poor. The Muzarai department of Government of Karnataka is giving a meager sum of Rs 2000 per year since last 40 years.

The society is very thankful to Smt Maneka Gandhi, Hon'ble minister in the central cabinet for the grant of Rs 25 lakhs enabling the construction of 15,000 sq.ft of new cowsheds to accommodate about 400 cattle. The Mysore MLA Mr. A. Ramdas granted 3.5 lakhs from MLA designated fund, which was utilized to provide water supply. There is an isolation care ward for sick and injured cattle provided by the family of late for Parasmalji Sankla.

The society has sponsored southern regional training workshop to train in bio composed, pest repellants and other medicinal products manufacturing from "Gomeya" and "Gomutra". The daily maintenance expenses are about Rs. 15000 and are being met by a magnanimous and most generous voluntary donation mostly from Rajasthanis and Jain community.

As about the future plans one is development of Children Park on an area of 40,000 sq.ft, a special attraction and to educate, create and develop awareness for promotion of kindness to animals and environment protection. Another plan is start developmental center for the improvement of quality and breed of cows and cattle, economic use of gomeya and gomutra, fodder cultivation and training. There are 3-4 other plans also.

A Baba Shri Ramdevji and Krishna Mandhir is also here and the society celebrates Janmashtami and Rajyothsava.

In spite of doing all these good things the society is facing some sorts of threats as always happens. They regularly receive threats from the butchers, some of who are in contact with some top politicians. Apart from those two newspapers, namely "Namage-Nimage" and "Destroyer" published defaming articles. The publisher even went to the extent of branding this great organization as a wing of Hindu fundamentalism. Society is fighting a case against them in the Press Council of India. The people behind this society neither care for the praise nor for any type of allegation. They know that the dog barks but the caravan goes on. They carry on their good work of loving the dumb animals.

Before I left the premises I bowed to the secretary, who is a old man and the care taker of those thousands of dumb, helpless animals and birds.

As I was leaving them a verse from Coleridge's ancient mariner "He prayeth well who loveth well both man and bird and beast. For the dear God who loveth us HE made and loveth all".

Sandeep Shenoy