![\"Veterinarian](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.animals24-7.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/Picsart_25-03-14_13-05-41-230-e1741982769287.jpg?ssl=1\")
<\/a><\/p>\n(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 JAIPUR, India\u2013\u2013<\/strong>\u201cEvery camel has a story,\u201d\u00a0 Camel Rescue Centre veterinarian Abhinav Swani told Indian freelance writer Aparna Vats who recited several of the stories to introduce a March 13,\u00a0 2025 media release celebrating\u2013\u2013she thought\u2013\u2013the 14th anniversary of the debut of the Camel Rescue Centre in Bassi, \u00a0India.<\/p>\n Bassi is 20 miles southwest of the renowned Amer Fort in Jaipur,\u00a0 colloquially known as the \u201cAmber Fort,\u201d\u00a0 the 300-year-old capital of Rajasthan built in 1699 when Jaipur was hub of a regional empire.<\/p>\n \u201cRanu was abandoned, \u00a0blind and helpless,\u201d\u00a0 Vat wrote.\u00a0 \u201cBlackie was rescued from smugglers. \u00a0Rani spent years performing in a circus. \u00a0Martin, \u00a0left lame from an injury, \u00a0was no longer wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n But just as every camel has a story,\u00a0 the Camel Rescue Centre has a much longer and more colorful story than fit into just a brief media release.<\/p>\n The Camel Rescue Centre was indeed established in Bassi in 2011,\u00a0 as Vats reported,\u00a0 by the Jaipur humane society Help In Suffering.<\/p>\n But the camel aid project itself is ancestrally 25 years old,\u00a0 operating as a mobile clinic for fourteen years before gaining a permanent address.<\/p>\n Crystal Rogers,\u00a0 founder of Animals\u2019 Friend, Help In Suffering, & CUPA.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The umbrella organization for the Camel Rescue Center,\u00a0 Help In Suffering,\u00a0 was the second in a string of outpatient animal clinics and rescue shelters established by Crystal Rogers,\u00a0 1906-1996,\u00a0 nominally an Englishwoman,\u00a0 but an almost lifelong resident of India.<\/p>\n Emigrating to India with her parents at age six in 1912, \u00a0Rogers initially did animal rescue as a mobile canteen driver with the Gurkha Regiment,\u00a0 raised in Nepal,\u00a0 during World War II.<\/p>\n Rogers founded her first humane organization,\u00a0 Animals\u2019 Friend,\u00a0 in Delhi,\u00a0 in 1959\u2013\u2013the same year in which the Blue Cross of India debuted,\u00a0 on the far side of the country.<\/p>\n (See <\/em><\/strong>Animal welfare history in Madras\/Chennai & why it matters to the world<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Christine Townend.<\/strong><\/em> Ousted from Animals\u2019 Friend by a board coup in 1978, \u00a0Rogers,\u00a0 already age 72, \u00a0relocated to Jaipur, \u00a0where she founded and directed the first Help In Suffering clinic and shelter from 1978 to 1991, when she turned the facilities over to Australian author and animal advocate Christine Townend.<\/p>\n Retiring in 2008,\u00a0 Townend was succeeded by English veterinarian Jack Reese, \u00a0\u00a0who was in turn succeeded by present managing trustee Timmie Kumar.<\/p>\n Rogers,\u00a0 meanwhile,\u00a0 at age 85, \u00a0founded Compassion Unlimited Plus Action [CUPA] in Bangalore.<\/p>\n Maneka Gandhi.<\/strong><\/em> Among the young volunteers and visitors Rogers whom influenced at her three shelters were Geeta Seshamani, who founded the Friendicoes humane society in Delhi in 1979 and,\u00a0 with the now legendary wildlife rescuer Kartick Satyanarayan,\u00a0 in 1997 cofounded the Wildlife SOS string of sanctuaries for former dancing bears and working elephants.<\/p>\n There was also Maneka Gandhi, \u00a0who founded the national animal advocacy organization People for Animals in 1992; \u00a0the actress Amala Akkineni, \u00a0founder of the Blue Cross of Hyderabad; and Rogers\u2019 eventual successors at CUPA,\u00a0 Suparna Ganguly, \u00a0Sheila Rao, \u00a0and Sanober Bharucha.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Rogers\u2019 shelters,\u00a0 in her own time,\u00a0 lacked the capacity to treat camels very often.<\/p>\n But as the veterinarian Abhinav Swani explained to Aparna Vat,\u00a0 \u201cMany camels have worked in extreme conditions for years. \u00a0Others are abandoned once they are no longer useful. \u00a0Our work gives them a second chance at life.\u201d<\/p>\n For that reason Townend,\u00a0 who opposed government massacres of feral camels in Australia both before and after her Indian stint, \u00a0made starting the camel project a personal priority.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Camel Rescue Centre provides critical medical care for working camels\u2014those used in transport, \u00a0brick kilns, \u00a0and tourism,\u201d\u00a0 Aparna Vats recited,\u00a0 treating \u201c250-350 camels every month, offering emergency care and long-term rehabilitation.\u201d<\/p>\n (Camel Rescue Center photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In addition to the camels seen by veterinarians at the Camel Rescue Centre,\u00a0 Help In Suffering provides care without charge to from \u201c5,000 to 7,000 camels through mobile clinics,\u201d\u00a0 Help In Suffering managing trustee Timmie Kumar told Vats,\u00a0 \u201creaching remote areas where medical services are scarce. \u00a0Help In Suffering also conducts annual treatment camps at major camel hubs like Pushkar, \u00a0Jaisalmer, \u00a0and Nagaur,\u201d\u00a0 where rough dirt roads cross stretches of the Rajasthan desert that are difficult even for heavy trucks.<\/p>\n \u201cBeyond medical care,\u201d\u00a0 Vats continued, \u201cHelp In Suffering has introduced humane welfare measures such as replacing wooden nose pegs,\u201d\u00a0 to which camels\u2019 reins are attached, \u00a0\u201cwith gentler plastic alternatives, \u00a0fitting over 1,000 camel carts with reflectors to prevent accidents, \u00a0and conducting regular deworming programs for 2,000 camels annually.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cFor many families,\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 Vats explained,\u00a0 \u201ccamels are their livelihood, \u00a0yet without proper veterinary care, \u00a0these animals suffer from preventable illnesses and injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n The Help In Suffering camel project debuted with a mobile unit, \u00a0staffed by veterinarian Devi Shankar Rajoria and British volunteer vets Richard and Emma Morris.<\/p>\n Later headed by Pradeep Singhal, \u00a0DMV,\u00a0 the Camel Project was initially funded by Animaux Secours of France,\u00a0 the Marchig Trust of Swtizerland,\u00a0 and the Carpenter Trust of Britain.<\/p>\n The Camel Rescue Centre was funded by a second Swiss organization,\u00a0 the ELSU Foundation.<\/p>\n Camel racing in Dubai.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n When the Camel Rescue Centre opened on March 13,\u00a0 2011,\u00a0 it became the first humane society facility built specifically to help camels, \u00a0and only the second dedicated camel hospital in the world.<\/p>\n The first,\u00a0 which initially had a very different purpose,\u00a0 was the Dubai Camel Hospital, opened in 1990 by Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum to treat the 3,000 racing and dairy camels \u201cbelonging to the Maktoum family and their friends and relatives,\u201d wrote BBC News science reporter Anna-Marie Lever in January 2009.<\/p>\n By then, \u00a0after almost 20 years in service, \u00a0the Dubai Camel Hospital workload had expanded to include treating \u201c4,000 breeding camels, \u00a02,000 racing camels, \u00a0and doing research into common afflictions,\u201d founding veterinarian Jahangir Akbar told Zac Sharpe of the Dubai periodical Al <\/em>Shindagah.<\/em><\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cYoung camels tend to suffer from sore shins and damaged knee joints; \u00a0older camels are admitted for lameness and arthritis,\u201d \u00a0Akbar said.<\/p>\n Noted Lever, \u00a0\u201cRespiratory complaints caused by infection are also common,\u00a0 as are gastric problems, \u00a0because trainers push carbohydrate down their camels in an attempt to give them more energy to race, \u00a0leading to acidosis.\u201d<\/p>\n Paradoxically,\u00a0 the three most prominent European animal welfare organizations helping working horses,\u00a0 mules,\u00a0 and donkeys in the Middle East,\u00a0 Central Asia,\u00a0 and India,\u00a0 all headquartered in Britain,\u00a0 have done relatively little for camels.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Brooke Hospital for Animals,\u00a0 founded in Cairo,\u00a0 Egypt, \u00a0by Dorothy Brooke in 1934,\u00a0 and The Donkey Sanctuary,\u00a0 founded in England in 1969,\u00a0 expanding into the Middle East in 1986,\u00a0 later adding facilities in Kenya and India,\u00a0 have never had camel programs.<\/p>\n The Society for Protection of Animals in North Africa,\u00a0 founded in 1923 by self-taught homeopathic veterinarian Kate Hosali and her daughter Nina,\u00a0 has always treated camels\u2013\u2013but quietly,\u00a0 focusing a caseload mostly of horses.<\/p>\n As camel racing is not popular in Rajasthan,\u00a0 Help In Suffering sees mostly cart-pulling camels.<\/p>\n But Help In Suffering does see many of the same injuries and symptoms of overuse familiar to the Dubai Camel Hospital staff.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Much of the work of the Camel Rescue Centre also involves undoing the harm done to working camels by folk remedies, \u00a0and educating the camel drivers against using them, \u00a0regardless of tradition.<\/p>\n \u201cFor example,\u201d \u00a0explains the Camel Rescue Centre web site, \u00a0\u201ca common method of treating throat and cold infections,\u00a0 or lameness, \u00a0has been to inflict a deep burn by means of an iron rod applied to the skin of the affected area,\u201d \u00a0which \u201cis not only useless but can threaten the life of the camel.\u201d<\/p>\n The Camel Rescue Centre team also sees a lot of colic, \u00a0\u201ccommonly caused by lack of drinking water, \u00a0 poor quality fodder mixed with\u00a0large amounts of sand, \u00a0or by intestinal parasites. \u00a0Skin conditions caused by ticks and mites are common,\u201d \u00a0says the web site.<\/p>\n More difficult afflictions to treat include tryapanosomiasis, \u00a0caused by a blood parasite, \u00a0and lameness and foot injuries. \u00a0Foot and leg problems are especially common when camels, \u00a0who have soft padded feet rather than hooves, \u00a0are worked on paved roads.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The most frequent problem that the Camel Rescue Centre sees, \u00a0however, \u00a0is that \u201cCamels have traditionally been controlled in India by wooden nose pegs inserted through the external nares, \u00a0to which the reins are attached.\u00a0 Friction caused by the nose peg results in suppurating,\u00a0 non-healing wounds which attract flies,\u00a0 becoming infested with maggots. \u00a0Parts of the nose and face can then be eaten away.\u201d<\/p>\n The Camel Rescue Centre,\u00a0 as Vats explained, \u00a0has enjoyed some success in promoting the use of smooth plastic nose pegs instead of wooden pegs, \u00a0and in introducing longer pegs, \u00a0to prevent the peg ends from chafing the camels\u2019 noses.<\/p>\n In only three years,\u00a0 from March 2002 to March 2005,\u00a0 replacing wooden pegs with plastic pegs cut the number of nose peg injuries among camels treated by half.<\/p>\n (Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The greatest part of the Camel Rescue Centre workload is preventive. The first 37,350 treatments included deworming 15,500 camels, and affixing 11,000 reflectors on camel carts to keep motor vehicles from colliding with them at night.<\/p>\n Though Help In Suffering is apparently still the only Indian humane society with a full-time camel clinic, \u00a0partly because camels are not commonly used beyond the Rajasthan desert,\u00a0 many other humane societies aid camels when they can.<\/p>\n The Blue Cross of Hyderabad,\u00a0 for instance,\u00a0 treats about 30 camels per year.<\/p>\nCamel Rescue Centre in the Rajasthan desert has now been operating for half a camel\u2019s 50-year lifespan\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nWandered in the desert for 14 years before finding a home<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nCrystal Rogers<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(University of Sydney photo)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nChristine Townend<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n
(Beth Clifton collage)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\nDistinguished alumni<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTownend made the camel project a priority<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201c5,000 to 7,000\u201d camels per year<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cCamels are their livelihood\u201d<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Dubai Camel Hospital<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nTypical camel injuries<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nEquine aid organizations ignore camels<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nUndoing harm done by folk remedies<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nNose pegs<\/h2>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nPreventive medicine<\/h2>\n