NEW DELHI, June 29, 2013: There are no helplines for them or special food packets that are airdropped. But if Gauri Maulekhi has her way, she will bring the horses home.

In the middle of rescue operations for humans are about 2000khacchars - mules - stranded at various places in and around Kedarnath. Some of the owners have died, others can't be traced and the rest are either wounded or too ill-equipped to reach the animals that put bread on their table. "I have been here for eight days now and am begging everyone to help save these animals," Maulekhi said from Guptkashi. "But it looks like I am fighting a losing battle."

Maulekhi, who works with the Uttarakhand unit of People For Animals, said the horses left alone by their masters are injured and emaciated. "It is these animals that ferry thousands of pilgrims. We just can't forget them now when it is inconvenient to think about them. If the floods come again these animals will just drown. The Army and animal husbandry department have promised aid, but there isn't much forthcoming."

Animal welfare activists say that though the Uttarakhand HC this year put a cap of 4,500 mules on the Gaurikund-Kedarnath route, there were at least 12,000 horses when the rains came. While thousands were washed away and some owners managed to rescue a bunch, many were left behind to fend for themselves. "In fact," Maulekhi said, "had there been fewer horses that day, there would have been fewer casualties. Everyone, of course, from contractors to the zila panchayat who give out the tokens to the owners of these mules is breaking the law. They don't see that an already fragile ecosystem can take only so much."

Sources: The Times of India, DT. June 29, 2013.