People For Animals - India's largest Animal welfare organization by Maneka Gandhi

PFA Goa - Monthly Performance Report of Ponda & Vasco Shelter for January 2013

Friday, 19 April 2013 20:56 pfa

Monthly Performance Report of Ponda & Vasco Shelter for January 2013.

PONDA SHELTER

Monthly Performance Report

January - 2013

Sr. No	ANIMAL WELFARE RECORD	MUNICIPALITY AREA	PANCHAYAT AREA	TOTAL
1.	Dogs Sterilised & Vaccinated	6	71	77
2.	Dogs Euthanised	2	5	7
3.	Complaints Received	8	18	26
4.	Complaints Attended	3	13	16
5.	Animals Rescued	1	0	1
6.	AnimalsTreated at Shelter	2	6	8
7.	Animals Treated at Site	0	6	6

Mercury Contamination

Thursday, 18 April 2013 20:47 Maneka Gandhi

A survey of the quality of the river Kali shows that it has 12 milligrams of mercury per litre. Every fish in it is contaminated. The Western Paper Mills on its banks pours this toxic heavy metal into the river every day. Every river in India has an extremely high content of mercury. 1 part per billion is the safe limit internationally for mercury in water. Every fish in India swims in water with a thousand times more than that level.

Across the world, scientists have realized how far mercury contamination has spread into seafood. Hundreds of studies are now available in all the medical magazines on the relationship between mercury and health. Let's look at a few of them:-

A Finnish study by the University of Kuopio published in the latest issue of the American Heart Association journal shows that fish eating men have high levels of mercury .The higher the mercury content, higher the risk of heart disease - up to 60 percent increased risk of an acute attack and a 70 % increased risk of cardiovascular death. Men with the highest levels of mercury in their hair (which is the method of measuring mercury in the body), consumed more than twice the amount of fish as those with the lowest levels. The findings are based on a 14-year study of men aged 42 to 60 who were initially free of heart disease or strokes. The mercury content of hair ranged from 1.9 micrograms per gram to 15.7 micrograms per gram.

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PFA UTTAR DINAJPUR - Rescued Operations

Thursday, 18 April 2013 20:40 pfa

PFA Uttar Dinajpur rescued two cobras, one eagle, and one wild cat from Raiganj. [Image Gallery]

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Toys

Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:49 Maneka Gandhi

Are you going to buy toys for children? Before you spend your money, there are some things you need to know about.

Many of today's toys are made of a plastic called polyvinyl chloride (PVC), commonly known as vinyl. From teethers, rings, bottle nipples, dolls to rubber ducks, a popular choice is vinyl made flexible by the addition of a phthalate plasticizer during fabrication of the material. Flexible vinyl is durable and can endure years of hard play without losing its color, its flexibility or its fun. It is easily cleaned and is low in cost.

PFA Bangalore- Activities

Wednesday, 17 April 2013 23:43 pfa

PFA Bangalore- Activities

albums/pfa-bangalore

[Image Gallery]

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Pesticides

Tuesday, 16 April 2013 23:37 Maneka Gandhi

When an article comes out on pesticides people tend to skip over it because they feel powerless about the problem and they already know that pesticides in their food will give them diseases starting with cancer. Even the government agencies that allow these pesticides only test for their cancer causing potential and if it doesn’t show up immediately or they have multinational pressure on them they allow it as “acceptable risk”.

This piece is about a completely new impact, which has just been studied, -violence in society. Thousands of years ago the Greek Philosopher Socrates commented on the new generation

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they love chatter in place of exercise. What is happening to our young people?

PFA Wardha - Activity Report & Progress Report for the months of February & March, 2013

Tuesday, 16 April 2013 22:53 pfa

Activity Report & Progress Report for the months of February & March, 2013

February 2013

Animal Rescue:

Date	Place	Animal	Treatment	Status
04.02.2013	Wardha	Cow	I.V DNS Tetracycline	At the shelter
07.02.2013	Sewagram	Dog	I.V.RI.DNS, Ivermectin, Melonex	Released
10.02.2013	Laxmi Nagar	Pigeon	Betnesol drop	At the shelter
14.02.2013	Alodi	Snake	NA	Released
15.02.2013	Nalwadi	Parrot	Betenesol drop	Died
15.02.2013	Seloo	Cow	I.V.DNS RL, Melonex	At the shelter
17.02.2013	Pawanar	Dog	Dressing	Died
19.02.2013	Dattapur	Monkey	Stitches/ Dressing	Died
20.02.2013	Jamtha	Cat	IV DNS RL	At the shelter
25.02.2013	Bhugaon	Civet Cat	NA	Released

Mercury - A Hazardous Substance

Monday, 15 April 2013 22:49 Maneka Gandhi

Once I spent a month with my mother in Breach Candy Hospital in Mumbai. During my vigil, the administrator of the hospital called a meeting of the administrators of a large number of hospitals in Mumbai and we talked about issues on health care. During the discussion I asked the administrators what was done with the mercury that came out of broken thermometers, dental machinery and blood pressure machines. All of them had the same answer- the mercury was swept out into the general waste. Not one was aware of the hazardous nature of mercury nor that it required special handling.

Mercury is used in large amounts by hospitals but even the basic standards for its safe use, issued by the Indian Standards Institute are neither known nor practiced by any hospital in India. In fact no hospital has ever been accountable to the hazardous Waste Management and Handling Rules. In fact dental amalgam which contains 45-55 % mercury is banned in most countries but is still used widely by India’s dentists. No hospital staff is trained in its handling or disposal.

Mercury equipment is fragile and breaks very easily. Imagine the number of thermometers that break every day in a hospital. No sweepers are given any protective gear while handling it and it goes straight into the incinerable waste or into the general waste that goes to a landfill or through the drains and from there into the groundwater and food.

An average sized hospital would throw out about 3 kg of mercury every year. A city like Delhi throws out about 51 kg – just through dental practices. Add to that the thermometers that break in every house.

PFA Uttar Dinajpur - Rescued 3 spectacled cobras, an eagle and a wild cat

Monday, 15 April 2013 22:35 pfa

PFA Uttar Dinajpur Team successfully rescued three spectacled cobras, one eagle and one wild cat from various places of Raiganj. Two Cobras which were found in a poultry farm were rescued from Bogram village and one cobra from a villager's house at Abdulghata. We have released the snakes in jungle, far away from human habitat. We also rescued a wild cat from a TV Reporter Himangshu Das's house at Birnagar, Raiganj. The wild cat was rescued, almost dead. We treated it with the help of a vet. surgeon Dr Subhas Choudhury but it ultimately succumbed to its injury. The eagle was rescued from Sudarsanpur. It has got an injury in one of its wings. It is being treated by us in our temporary shelter. It is now better than before. The media have covered the news. [Image Gallery]

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