Pinjrapole, A Silent Service

In our country animals are revered, yet we get to see stray animals, healthy and injured, hungry and destitute on roads and in other public places. These animals die of hunger or disease, get hit by speeding vehicles, get transported to slaughter houses as soon as they get old as they turn useless for humans in terms of economy. Such animals in Mysore get shelter at The Society for the Promotion of Kindness to Animals, in common parlance called the Mysore Pinjrapole Society.
Mysore Pinjrapole Society was established 71 years ago in 1938 by Maharaja Jayachamaraja Wadiyar. Since then it is taking care of destitute animals; handicapped, injured, weak and abandoned animals, by providing feed, shelter and medical care.
Pinjrapole is one of the prominent societies in southern India for taking care of seized cattle illegally being transported to slaughter-houses, rescued and recovered with assistance of Police and handed over to the Society for caring under Court orders. Thousands of animals have been thus protected by the Society. At present the number of animals in the Society is reaching 2700,
nearly 1053 animals brought in by the Police after rescue. The first branch of Pinjrapole, situated on a 62-acre land on Mysore-Ooty Road at the foot of Chamundi Hill, has a serene atmosphere in the midst of nature. A second branch was established to accommodate the increasing number of
animals, in 2005 near Udbooru Gate, about 10 kms away from Mysore on H.D. Kote Road with an area of 36 acres; the land is popular as Ahimsa Dham. A large number of animals found in Pinjrapole are cattle; but destitute or injured sheep, goats, dogs, cats, birds, etc., too reside here. Even peacocks come for food from the surrounding areas and Chamundi Hill. Mostly cows,
buffaloes and such cattle are brought there by the Police who seize the animals on way to slaughter houses.
All expenditures of Pinjrapole — looking after the animals, labour charge, fodder, maintenance etc.— are sustained only through donations. They do not receive any fund from the government, according to Society’s Secretary Shantilal Choradia.
Medical Facility: The Society has appointed a Veterinary Doctor and two Supervisors as his
assistants. An emergency ward has been constructed to render immediate treatment to severely sick animals. A separate maternity ward is maintained for cows.
Green Grass cultivation: Green grass is cultivated in 15 acres of land at Mysore branch and 5 acres of land at Udbooru branch for cattle feed. As such they are self-sustained to a small extent.
Vermicomposting: Pinjrapole is using earthworms to prepare vermicompost and use it for farming. They grow organic vegetables and fruits with the help of vermicompost. Their organic foods, with no harmful chemicals which are injurious to health, are consumed by the labourers and members of the Society.
Improvement brought about in breeding: To improve the breed of cows, Kankrege, Harianvi, Hallikar & Sahiwal bulls have been brought from their places of origin. At present there are 120 cows of these improved breeds.
Milk Production: Every day 650-700 liters of milk is collected from healthy cows which are sold among the members and the revenue collected is used for betterment of cows.
Gobar Gas Plant: There is one gobar gas plant each at both the branches each of a capacity of 80 CuMs. All the employees' quarters have been provided with gobar gas facility for cooking. Cutting down trees for fuel has been totally prevented, thus protecting the environment. In emergencies, electricity is generated out of gas plant, from the generator installed.
Labour and Helping Hands: There are 18 families residing on the premises of the Society. They are provided with milk and rations at subsidised rates to prevent wastage of their time and money in going to market for daily needs. Their children’s education has been arranged by admitting them to nearest schools and educational expenses are being met by the Society.
Cow urine: The urine of cows, traditionally called gomutra, has been found to be medicative in nature. The age-old practice of consuming cow urine as medicine has now been revived in Pinjrapole. The Society has installed a distillation unit to distill cow urine and use it for treatment of ailments.
According to the Society, cow’s urine has natural medicinal qualities that can cure diabetes, asthma, chronic skin diseases, acidity, blood pressure, migraine and other headaches, constipation and even cancer. Two women in Pinjrapole, Sheena and Nandini, are trained in preparation of distilled urine called Arka, phenyl made out of cow urine and other products.
Sheena says she started working on these products after learning the procedures from a doctor in Pinjrapole. They started preparing the products about 3-4 months ago and the products have already become popular even among foreigners.
The Society prepares a minimum 25 bottles of distilled cow urine or Arka to meet the demands. According to Secretary Shantilal, Pinjrapole is the only one in Karnataka which uses modern technology to distil cow urine on the lines of Akhila Bharatiya Go-Vigyan Samsthan in Nagpur.
Shantilal says about 60 litres of urine is collected every morning from selected breeds including Amruth Mahal, Hallikere, of which, they get 30 litres after distillation.
Pinjrapole has various future plans like construction of shelters for more than 5,000 animals; preparing Pancha gavya from cow urine, dung, ghee, milk and curd, which has medicinal value; cultivation of organic vegetables and fruits in large amount; hi-tech rain water harvesting; training centre for rain water harvesting and preparing organic manure. They plan to start an
extensive movement 'Go hatya –virodh jana jagruthi andolan' to create an awareness about the ills of cow slaughtering. Pinjrapole Society is doing a silent and sacred service to voiceless, innocent animals and in turn a utilitarian service to all without any profit.