Dog living with bullet since 26/11 dies at Parel hospital

Pics by Rons Bantwal
Bellevision Media Network

Mumbai, 21 Dec 2014: Sheru, a stray dog who took a terrorist’s bullets at CST during the 26/11 attack, died of a cardiac arrest at the Parel animal hospital around 7.30 am on Saturday.

 

Said to be around 14, Sheru had suffered a leg injury recently, said Dr Mayur Dangar, manager at the Bombay Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BSPCA).

 

"While this leg injury had not been healing for quite a long time, it was not the cause of death," Dangar said. "Sheru died of a cardiac arrest."

 

 

Sheru’s remains were consigned to the flames at a crematorium on the hospital premises. The hospital staff and associates were in attendance at the special funeral ceremony.

 

The stray canine had been living on the streets outside the CST till it was hit by two bullets when the station became one of the targets of terrorists on November 26, 2008. Admitted to the hospital soon after, the dog was christened Sheru at the facility.

 

While the bullet that had pierced Sheru’s back was extricated in a surgery conducted at the hospital, the other one remained lodged in his neck till the end.

 

Dangar said the reason the second bullet was not removed was that it had lodged itself in the respiratory tract.

 

"It was not possible to remove it," Dangar said. "Had we even tried, it would have damaged Sheru’s respiratory tract."

 

Sandip Chavan, a ward boy at the veterinary hospital who regularly tended to Sheru, described the dog as a friend and member of the family. "He was extremely attached to me, just as much as I was to him," Chavan said in a voice choking with emotion.

 

Chavan used tofeed Sheru milk, rice and chicken, but he said the dog had been put on a drip a couple of days ago as it had stopped eating.

 

 

A committee member of the hospital, Thrity Gazdar, recalled how traumatized Sheru was when brought to the hospital six years ago. "But after that, as he came around, he came across as an extremely dignified and well-behaved dog," Gazdar, who regular visited Sheru, said.

 

Sheru was sponsored by a benefactor whose identity could not be revealed, said a hospital official.