 "Shaktiman - Life and Times of the brave police horse")
Delhi: Uttarakhand Police horse Shaktiman, which was injured during a BJP protest in Dehradun, died on Wednesday.
Following is the life and times of Shaktiman:
- Shaktiman hit headlines when it was brutally assaulted with sticks, allegedly by Uttarakhand BJP MLA Ganesh Joshi and his associates.
- The 14-year-old Kathiawari mare was employed by the Uttarakhand mounted police.
- The snowy white mare was one of 6.25 lakh horses and ponies in the country, as per a census.
- The horse had been a part of police ceremonial parades since it was a three-year-old colt.
- BJP MLA Joshi was booked under IPC Section 429 (killing, maiming or rendering useless animals of value including a horse), which attracts up to five years in jail.
- Reports said that Shaktiman did not charge the protesters but kept stepping back from them in the face of the attacks.
- It had then buckled and one of her hind legs was caught in a railing.
- An emergency amputation was carried out after it became clear that the horse could die of gangrene from the wound.
- It was said that a prosthetic limb will help Shaktiman walk again. However it was not to be.
- Visuals the police horse hobbling in pain and dragging its crushed has captured the imagination of the people and drew strong emotional reactions across the country.
- Hashtag #PrayForShaktiman had became a trending topic on Twitter.
- US animal lover Jamie Vaughn had made it her personal mission to care for the animal and was referred to as 'chachi' (aunt) by Dehradun police officers.
- Vaughn runs an NGO called Maya Foundation for animal welfare in Bhutan.
- She has helped in construction of a new tin shed for the horse. The shed had been fitted with two water-cooled fans, a mosquito net and fluorescent lamp.
- Shaktiman used to get massage every day and its bedding was changed every second day and the bandage twice a week.
- It was said that in the month following the accident, Shaktiman had lost about 70 kgs and was weighing about 425 kgs.
- Tim Mahoney, a retired banker from Kentuky, had flown halfway around the world few days back with a prosthetic limb for the horse which was fitted on Shaktiman.
- Doctors said that the horse was not responding to a prosthetic leg brought from the US, as per reports.
- She reportedly spent the past few weeks at the police lines in Dehradun.
- Constable Ravinder, who was astride the horse when the accident happened was inconsolable for days fearing euthanasia for Shaktiman.
- He was mostly by its side, helping feed him or to handle the physiotherapy.
- Ravinder was quoted by a Daily as saying after the mishap - “Kya sundar ghoda tha. Ekdum shaandar. Sab kuch khatam ho gaya. Lekin shukr hai ki woh zinda hai."
- The constable must be a distraught man today.
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