Past and Present – in brief
Past
India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN) was registered and recognized by AWBI in 2002 to run the animal sanctuary based at the Hill View Farm in Mavanalla village, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu. What begun as mainly an animal refuge, over the years developed into a base from where spay/neuter and rabies control programs across the district begun to be coordinated and implemented, where farmer-training sessions were planned and held, where vets and volunteers would attend to sick and injured animals of all kinds, brought in by the people living in the villages surrounding the Mudumalai wildlife sanctuary. IPAN was also recognized as an important player in various wildlife conservation activities, from volunteer forest fire-fighting to animal rescue operations.
In addition to all these other activities, the animal refuge continued at the heart of it all, providing permanent home to many rescued animals – many of them rescued and sent to the IPAN animal refuge by police or by court orders.
Present
Since 2006, we begun to develop association with WVS and this eventually led to the establishment of Worldwide Veterinary Service India in 2010. WVS India’s main focus was to be in improving animal welfare through veterinary skills development and therefore, it became logistically best to move all the veterinary activities of IPAN under WVS India and have IPAN mainly to focus on supporting the animal refuge.
Fast forward 13 years and the winds of change or blowing again. With the Supreme Court order on establishment of an elephant corridor, just bordering our land on the southern side, to ensure free migration movement of elephants, many restrictions are being placed on our land use as well. Ultimately what it means is that many of the animals will be moved elsewhere and we won’t be taking in any new ones anymore. After 15 years of the elephant corridor matter been in and out of the court system, there is finally a verdict – which in some ways is good. At least we know where we stand and can plan forward from here. However, there are many mixed feelings and emotions here for sure and while we are in full support of elephant deserving sufficient space for their movement, it does not seem to make sense how the little corner of our land where our animal sheds are located, would make a massive difference to their lives.
Change
This blog is hopefully in its early stages now and will develop into something where I will be sharing about my views and experiences in humane dog population management, rabies control, animal health & welfare – and also about our journey into this new stage of life where we will be looking into new ways of running the farm, managing an animal sanctuary (albeit a smaller one) and also living through the years of transition as our children grow up, finish school and move out.
Change is never easy. This change is no different. But I am looking forward in using this space to process this all. I have been wanting to write a blog for long time but just been missing the voice and clarity of the perspective and topics I wanted to share about. However, that is now slowly shaping in my mind, and I am quite excited about it. There is something about writing a blog that I am much more comfortable with than using social media and I believe that there is still time and space for old-school ways like blogs.If you agree and are interested to stay updated, remember to subscribe to get notified whenever I post.
