The Hindu Business Line : Best friends

If you visit Aspick Engineering in Chennai, you will find about 20-odd dogs lazing in the premises, some comfortably asleep in chairs in the managing director’s office. For lunch, the dogs — mongrels all — have porridge from bowls laid out neatly outside. And why not, the company after all belongs to Dr Chinny Krishna, whose name is near-synonymous with the Blue Cross of India.

Krishna’s love for mongrels is amply reflected on a notice-board that visitors to the factory cannot miss: ‘If you can’t decide between an Alsatian, a Doberman or a Poodle, get them all. Adopt a mongrel from the Blue Cross shelter and get everything you are looking for — all in one dog. The intelligence of a Poodle and loyalty of a Lassie, the bark of a Shepherd and the heart of a St Bernard, the spots of a Dalmatian and size of a Schnauzer and the speed of a Greyhound. A genuine all-Indian has it all. Get the best of everybody. Adopt a mongrel’. Krishna and wife Nanditha, who is honorary director of The C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar Foundation, have 14 dogs at home, all mongrels. “I look after them — wash and clean them,” he stresses.

As founder member of the Blue Cross of India, Krishna has been a member of its governing body and editor and publisher of the Blue Cross newsletter for 43 years. He is on the board of the World Society for Protection of Animals and one of the signatories to the People for Animals (PfA) Trust. He was also Vice Chairman of the Animal Welfare Board of India (2001-04).

Not many know that Krishna is also the managing director of Aspick Engineering, which manufactures special purpose machines for the Department of Atomic Energy and Space Research as well as other companies in India and abroad. A month before marrying Nanditha, Krishna sold his Rajdoot motorcycle for Rs 4,000 and established Aspick to make tennis rackets. But he found it difficult to market them. So, Aspick became Aspick Engineering in 1974.

How did Krishna cultivate his love for animals? “I probably owe it to my grandfather, T.S. Krishnamurti, principal of the Government Arts College, Coimbatore, who instilled in us a great sense of reverence for all life. Our conversations at the dinner table centred on a wide range of subjects, and animal welfare was a part of it,” he says, adding, “We’ve always had cats and dogs; many mongrels found a home with us. During 1949-54, we even had a goat that was rescued from the Yelahanka air base.”

Stop the cruelty

Coimbatore-born Krishna grew up in Bangalore where his grandmother took care of him. After obtaining his B.Tech and M.Tech degrees in chemical engineering from AC College, Chennai, Krishna gained an MS and PhD in management from the US. It was in 1959 that his parents, Usha (India’s first woman pilot) and V. Sundaram (also a pilot), decided to start a small clinic for animals at home. The clinic was registered in 1964 as the Blue Cross of India. Krishna was one of the nine co-signatories of its Articles and Memorandum.

The same year, appalled by the horrific way in which the Corporation of Madras (now Chennai) was killing street dogs, the Blue Cross began to study the issue. “We were surprised to learn that the Corporation, one of the oldest in the world, had started its catch-and-kill programme in 1860. Section 218 of the Madras City Municipal Corporation Act of 1919 authorised catching and killing any dog on the street that did not have a licence tag,” he says. Soon, Dr F.D. Wilson, Chief of Surgery, Madras Veterinary College, and Honorary Medical Advisor of the Blue Cross inaugurated a free spaying centre at Krishna’s home. “Spaying by a skilled veterinarian is a relatively simple operation. Only a small incision is required, the operation takes only 15-20 minutes, and very few animals show any sign of discomfort after the operation. A spayed female dog or cat is permanently removed from the danger of breeding,” Krishna explains.

In 1966, inspection of the Corporation Dog Pound by the Blue Cross revealed conditions of filth and unforgivable laxity in the care of animals. Most dogs needed medical attention, several were suffering from distemper, and nearly all had mange. Yet, no treatment was given to the animals. The floors of the rooms were covered with urine and excrement. The method of killing dogs was very cruel.

Pioneering programme

Today, thanks to Krishna’s initiative, the Blue Cross ( www.bluecrossofindia.org.in) runs a successful animal birth control (ABC) programme at two centres in Chennai and full-fledged animal shelters in Chennai and Kunnam, near Sriperambudur. It employs 50 people, including veterinarians, drivers, attendants and a cook. Till 1987, the Blue Cross had no paid staff; its early vehicle drivers were pilots!

The Blue Cross ABC programme in south Chennai and 17 municipalities is something Krishna is proud of.

“Until 1995, as many as 135 dogs were being killed at the Corporation Dog Pound. In 1996, thanks to M. Abul Hasan, Corporation Commissioner who later became Special officer, we were able to start the programme. He gave us a chance to prove that ABC works and assured us that he would personally monitor the programme and that no dog spayed and vaccinated would be caught.” ABC worked, and the killing of dogs at the Dog Pound stopped. The Corporation converted the Pound into an animal birth control centre that is now looked after by the PfA. Chennai and Jaipur were the first Indian cities to start a sustained ABC programme.

“Across the world, it has been found that catching and killing stray dogs has never led to a long-term reduction of the stray dog population. Because dogs from neighbouring areas move in to fill the vacuum, and the number of strays depends on the availability of food and breeding grounds. Today, the number of street dogs in Chennai has reduced by 70 per cent. The purpose of the programme is also to bring down the number of cases of rabies,” Krishna says. In Chennai, the number of rabies deaths reduced from 120 in 1996 to five in 2004; Jaipur has reported no rabies death 2001 onwards (ten cases were recorded in 1996).

Is Krishna happy with what the Blue Cross of India has achieved? “How soon can we change things? How soon can we make the Blue Cross redundant? When can we shut down and throw away the key? Those were the questions that played in our minds when we established the organisation. It was a sort of dream. But obviously, we have failed. Today, we have to look after abandoned pets too. Many pet owners buy dogs as status symbols. When they face a problem, the dog is left on the road. What kind of human beings are we?”

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