H.I.S. Jaïpur RAJASTHAN article from Christine Townend

I'd like to tell you what is happening with camels this month.

The use of the camel nose peg to control the camels in Rajasthan has always been of deep concern to Help in Suffering Animal Shelter. When I was managing trustee at this shelter I saw so many ripped, bleeding camel noses, many of which had become fly-blown and which were, as a result, crawling with maggots. It has been very hard to encourage the cameleers to abandon use of the nose peg which they use to control their camels, due to the fact that they believe they need to use it in order to control the big bull camels they use for draught animal power. Now we have a new plan. 

Paddy McHugh, an Australian cameleer who has worked with camels all his life, is adamant that the nose peg is not needed. And due to input from PETA’s founder, Ingrid Newkirk, PETA and WFA are funding Paddy’s visit to Rajasthan this month. 

In Rajasthan at the Lohit Pashu-Palak Sansthan, German vet Dr. Ilse Kohler Rollefson will assist. I was fortunate enough to meet her and learn of her work when I visited Help in Suffering in April this year, and was introduced to her by the Managing trustee of HIS, Mrs. Timmie Kumar. Ilse founded this organisation and has been working in Rajasthan for the last 25 years; She is also the co- editor/author of a book on camel diseases, and her memoir, Camel Karma, Twenty Years among India’s Camel Nomads was published in 2014. 

At the LPPS, a training camp will be conducted showing the Rajasthani cameleers how young camels can be trained without using the nosepeg. Those who show particular aptitude will then be requested to assist with regular training sessions. 

What if male camels were castrated so they were easier to handle? The camel owners of Rajasthan claim a castrated camel would not be as strong as a bull camel. Paddy McHugh says this is nonsense, and the castrated camel can be stronger. However, castration might cause other welfare problems as the camel cannot be castrated until he is about two years old. Those with no funds might resort to rusty knives or other unsavoury means in order to castrate. 

Christine Townend, Help in Suffering Camel Rescue Centre 

Photos taken by Dr. Abhinav Swami