End of trauma: A rhino being dragged with chains which will end when the hydrualic lift is pressed into action

Feb. 29: The Lions Club of Guwahati Seva has decided to donate a hydraulic tail-lift to the People for Animals (PFA).

The tail-lift will be used to pick up sick and injured animals from the streets to the PFA hospital. The chairperson of the PFA, Assam chapter, Sangeeta Goswami said: “We are very thankful to Lions Club of Guwahati Seva for providing us with the hydraulic lift free of cost.”

She said the tail-lift would be attached to the rear end of a truck, which will be converted into an ambulance to help lift the animals. “Until now we had no option but to use a wooden plank to lift the sick animals, which was very inconvenient for us. We literally had to push them into the ambulance, but they often refused to co-operate,” the PFA chairperson said.

The public relations officer of the Lions Club of Guwahati Seva, Shalini Jain said the lift would make it easier for the people to bring the animals to the ambulance. “They will have to simply lower the platform of the lift, make the animal walk on it and then push a button which will raise the platform to the level of the truck,” Jain said.

She said the lift is a fully mechanised one, which is activated by push button control that lowers and raises the platform. Jain said the cost of the tail-lift is Rs 2.5 lakh. “Since we are giving it to a charitable organisation the manufacturer of the lift, Hyva India Limited, has given it to us at a subsidised price of Rs 1.75 lakh,” Jain added.

Goswami said previously they needed at least 15 to 20 people to lift a big animal into the ambulance but now with the help of the lift, she feels, it can be done only by a couple of persons.

The lift will be formally granted to the PFA by the international president of Lions Club, Mahendra Amarasuriya, at a function to be held at Pragjyoti Cultural Complex in Machkhowa tomorrow.

The PFA chairperson said if the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) approaches them, the PFA would lend the lift to GMC to lift stray animals.

The PFA is already running an animal hospital at Hengerabari. The hospital has a well-equipped operation theatre to perform castration, sterilisation, cataract and oncological surgeries on animals.