|
 'I
shut my eyes and see the little girl I knew myself to
be, eighty years ago, racing barefoot down a stope after
a bunch of colourful, fluttering butterflies. Not to
catch them. Not to break their wings. Not to preserve
them in a jar to show off to friends. I know now that
the girl was chasing after them to share their freedom.'
Words
from the autobiography of Crystal Rogers, who dedicated
her life to the welfare of stray, uncared-for animals
in India, and founded CUPA (Compassion Unlimited
Plus Action) in Bangalore. She was born in India
in 1906, and spent her childhood here. Having moved
back to England with her parents, she served as an ambulance
driver and in a mobile canteen and library during the
Second World War.
After
spending a few years in South Africa and Australia,
Rogers returned to Delhi from England in 1958 and was
horrified by the barbarous methods by which animals
are slaughtered for consumption, the cruelty involved
in the transport of domestic animals, the distress and
terror of animals kept in captivity for medical research
and the agony of sick and crippled animals who are prodded
on to work or abandoned because they no longer serve
any useful purpose.
Her
deep sympathy for their plight resulted in her opening
an animal shelter called The Animals' Friend
in Mehrauli which she ran for twenty years. Soon, she
also started taking care of the homeless, diseased and
dying people she found on Delhi's streets. She then
set up a charitable trust named Help in Suffering
in Jaipur. Roger moved to Bangalore in 1990 and founded
Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), another
animal welfare organization. She died on 30 August 1996.
To
know more about her life and her fight for the cause,
read her book Mad Dogs and an Englishwoman,  published
by Penguin. An excellent simple and moving read.
|
