When Christine Townend first arrived in Darjeeling, she saw a dog, dying slowly in the gutter, frothing at the mouth, in great distress, trying to crawl but being unable to do so. The dog had been poisoned with strychnine, as the Municipality believed this was the best way to control the spread of rabies. These days, no street dogs are poisoned, because of the establishment of Kalimpong Animal Shelter (1998) and Darjeeling Animal Shelter (2008), and the assistance of the Darjeeling and Kalimpong Municipalities.

It was easy in the beginning to catch dogs, to spay them, vaccinate them against rabies, and return them to the street in the place they were caught. These days only the wary and very shy dogs remain. They also need to be caught, and thus KAS and DAS have ordered the equipment below from South India. Altogether the cost of four nets with frames and two spare nets (for both shelters) including transport, will cost INR16900 which is about $A350. Previously the staff have been using sacks to throw over the dogs, bundling them into the soft darkness, and from there into the vehicle, but the dogs have become so cunning that the sack is too slow for very quick dogs. We want to catch the dogs humanely so we have ordered these new nets. Can you help with a small donation?