The Sanctuary

acgs2025
Jul 13
2 min read

Updated: Oct 3

Dogs

Most of them come from the urban streets of Delhi where they have either been hit by cars or stoned, others are abandoned, rescued from cruel people or circumstances, or rejected by breeders. They are old, sick and injured or too young and orphaned to fend for themselves on the streets.

They are either in the process of healing or have healed. Our efforts to find homes for them are not always successful but we keep trying and sometimes we succeed. One of our future aims is to strengthen our adoption programme. Our medical team and visiting vets are constantly attending to their physical needs. They are vaccinated and dewormed on a regular basis.

Every dog is sterilized on becoming permanent resident. We do encourage pet owner to do the same.

Cats

ACGS has a playful and frolicking cat community. Orphan kittens, wounded and disabled cats now live in an open air cattery. They are free to roam anywhere within the compound, climb trees and rooftops and play in the gardens. This model of an ‘open cattery’ works wonders in creating happy cats!

Emus

The emu meat and eggs experiment in India was a disaster from the word get go. Emu farming in India was encouraged as a source income. However, this did not become popular in Northern India and these birds were left fend for themselves.

Born and raised in captivity, thousands of them became diseased and died or were hit by cars or hunted by local predators. ACGS rescued some of these birds from places like the Gurgaon Toll and the Jhajjar Highways. Others were brought to us by individuals who rescued these large birds who were being sold for meat in the by lanes of Delhi !

The emus of ACGS actually come to you and rest their heads on your shoulder, making an affectionate sound akin to a very guttural purring! Emus love to run at high speeds and have a fairly large area of the sanctuary and they even have their own shallow ponds.

The Herbivores

At any given point of time, a visitor to ACGS will see our goats, cows, horses, buffaloes, pigs, mules and donkeys, happily lazing in the sun, chewing the cud, gambolling in the shadows or wallowing in our dirt pond.

Many of the cows are amputees because of road accidents. Many are blind. Its amazing how they all manage to live happily together.

Our horses are recuses from circuses and owners who exploit and abuse them. Many of them have been found abandoned in and around the streets of Delhi.

Many donkeys and mules come to us in a very critical condition often severely injured.