friendly massage from their caregivers with whom they appear to be on friendly terms when their backs are rubbed through the iron grills they visibly relax and purr with delight the caregivers might be popular with the animals but the veterinary doctor is certainly not his arrival sets off a fullthroated chorus of protests and the animals withdraw into the farthest corners possible in their cages the animals are regularly examined dewormed deticked and medicated for their sundry ailments the doctor prods pricks and examines where it hurts them most apart from administering distasteful medicines but the worst part of it all is that during that humiliating period of examination the animals are pressed tight into an iron frame so that they do not attack the good doctor or his assistants and rip off chunks of their body parts the animals blood and stool samples are sent to the same polyclinic that you and i visit so next time you go looking for your blood report if you come across a report that reads name kunal age 20 sex male sample bloodtiger dont be shocked the animals get one meal a day mondays are fast days when they get no food at all by tuesday they are starving the canny creatures are so smart that they can recognize the sound of the auto rickshaw in which their food arrives they alert one another with impatient growls till the food is placed before them while their everyday meals consist of chunks of beef the senior citizens get an extra packet of milk stirred with raw eggs and easy to digest chicken for breakfast their cells are regularly hosed down with water the entrances to the cells cleaned with phenol and the pools in which they lounge painstakingly scrubbed with bleaching powder a tiger or a lion can live up to its 15th or 16th year in the wild however in a shelter with all the care and attention they get the animals generally live longer most of the animals in the centre are old and in the last lap of their lives rehabilitating experforming cats is a major challenge most of them suffer from chronic physical problems as result of poor diet absence of medical attention lack of adequate exercise and untreated old injuries most of them carry scars picked up as performing animals they carry visible injuries on their bodies due to repeated electroshocking while in training even more distressing is their emotional trauma they are nervous of spending time in open enclosures and wait patiently at the entrances of their cages to be let in since that was all they were used to as circus animals most animals pace within imaginary confines of their enclosures as they were used to in the circus cages even though their present enclosures are larger they are either extremely timid or unnecessarily aggressive as a result of years of abuse it is heartening to see those traumatized and illtreated animals getting a second