Emergency help
Found an injured animal? Here is what to do.
Short answer
8655370005 is a general Mumbai animal helpline. Your area may have a closer volunteer — check the directory first, and say what animal it is when you call.
First fifteen minutes
Step by step
With an injured animal, reporting well is worth far more than handling badly. Almost everything below is about information and safety rather than first aid.
- 1
Make the spot safe before you do anything else
If the animal is on a road, that is the emergency. Put your hazard lights on and stop upstream of it, ask someone to warn drivers from a safe position, and use a phone light towards oncoming traffic at night. Do not kneel over an animal in a live lane — a second casualty helps nobody.
- 2
Keep everyone back, and do not reach for it
Clear the crowd, put dogs on a lead and take cats indoors. A frightened animal in pain bites the person trying to help it, including one that knows them well. Crouch side-on about a metre away rather than looming over it, and keep your hands to yourself for now.
- 3
Look carefully from where you are
Note whether it is conscious, standing or lying, whether it can move its back legs, where it is bleeding, whether its gums are pale, and whether it is breathing fast or with obvious effort. You now have everything a rescue team needs, and you have not been bitten.
- 4
Call an animal rescue helpline now
Ring before attempting anything. Give a live location pin plus a landmark, what the animal is and roughly how big, what you saw happen, the injuries you can see, and whether it has already tried to bite. Ask roughly how long they will be, and say if you cannot stay.
- 5
Give it nothing to eat, drink or swallow
No food, no milk, and no water poured into the mouth of a drowsy animal. No human painkillers — several are toxic to dogs and paracetamol is lethal to cats. An animal that may need emergency surgery must have an empty stomach. Water in a shallow bowl within reach is fine if it is fully alert.
- 6
Keep it in sight, warm and still
Animals crawl away and a team arriving to an empty street is a wasted trip, so watch from a distance if you safely can. Lay a towel loosely over it to keep it warm even on a hot day, since shock drops body temperature, and stop it walking about even if it seems able to.
Do
- Share a live location pin. It is the single biggest time-saver for a rescue team.
- Say what animal it is at the start of the call — not every volunteer handles every species.
- Note whether it can move its hind legs. It changes how the team lifts it.
- Cover it to keep it warm, even in Mumbai heat. Shock drops body temperature.
- Offer water in a shallow bowl within reach if the animal is fully alert.
- Stay nearby and keep it in sight if you safely can.
Do not
- Do not give paracetamol or any human painkiller. Paracetamol is lethal to cats.
- Do not lift a dog by its legs, tail or scruff, or let its back curve.
- Do not pour water into the mouth of a drowsy or collapsed animal.
- Do not pour kerosene, turpentine or phenyl on a wound or into maggots.
- Do not chase an animal that runs — note where it went instead.
- Do not carry an injured animal on a two-wheeler.
Which situation is it?
Find the guide that matches
The general advice above covers most calls. These situations each need something different.
It has been hit by a car
Traffic first, then the phone call, then the animal. Move it only on a flat support with the spine straight.
ReadIt is a dog or cat and I cannot tell how bad it is
What to observe from a safe distance, and what the rescue team needs you to tell them.
ReadThere are maggots in a wound
Never pour kerosene, turpentine or phenyl into it. It needs a vet, and it gets worse fast.
ReadIt is an injured or sick cat
A cat that lets you touch it is usually very unwell. Towel over the head first, then contain it.
ReadIt has collapsed in the heat
Tepid water over the whole body and moving air — never ice. Then a vet, even if it recovers.
ReadI found newborn puppies or kittens
Usually not orphans. Watch from out of sight for a few hours, and never give cow's milk.
ReadIt is a cow, buffalo or other large animal
Stay clear of the head and legs. Large animals need a sling, a vehicle and usually the municipality.
ReadThere is a snake or wild animal in the house
Do not try to catch or kill it. Shut it in one room and call a trained rescuer.
ReadI have to get it to a vet myself
How to build a flat stretcher, keep the spine in line, and move an animal without adding damage.
ReadWhy reporting well beats handling badly
With an injured bird, the person who finds it can usually do the whole of the first aid: cover it, box it, keep it dark. An injured dog, cat or cow is the opposite case. It is strong, it is terrified, and pain makes even the gentlest street dog bite the hand reaching for it. Meanwhile the injuries that matter most after a road accident — internal bleeding, a fractured pelvis, a damaged spine — are invisible from outside and are made worse by exactly the kind of lift a bystander improvises.
So the most valuable things an untrained person can do are unglamorous and entirely passive: keep the animal safe from traffic, keep it in sight, and hand a rescue team an accurate location and an honest description. A team that knows what it is coming to, and can find it first time, arrives ready.
What rescue teams actually need from you
- An exact, findable location — a live pin beats a street name every time.
- One phone number that stays reachable until they arrive.
- An honest description, including if the animal is aggressive or has already tried to bite. Nobody is judged for saying so, and it decides what equipment comes.
- A call back if the animal moves, is taken by someone else, or dies before the team gets there.
What happens after you report it
A volunteer will usually assess the animal where it lies, get it to a vet if it needs one, and either return it to its territory or keep it until it can be released. Groups running on Jinseva log your call as a case, dispatch it over WhatsApp to whoever is nearest, and send you an update when the case closes — so you find out what happened to the animal you stopped for.
Questions
Injured animal — FAQ
I found an injured animal. What should I do?
Make the spot safe from traffic, keep people and pets back, and call an animal rescue helpline with your exact location before touching it. Observe it from about a metre away rather than reaching for it. Give no food, water or painkillers, keep it warm and in sight, and wait for a trained team.
Should I pick up an injured dog or cat myself?
Generally no. An animal in pain is very likely to bite even if it knows you, and lifting one with a spinal or pelvic injury can cause permanent damage. If it truly cannot wait for a team, slide a dog onto a flat board or a taut sheet keeping its spine straight, and contain a cat inside a thick towel.
Who do I call for an injured animal?
Jinseva publishes a free directory of 32 bird and animal rescue contacts across 19 areas of Mumbai and the surrounding region at jinseva.in/helpline. Say at the start of the call what animal it is, because not every volunteer handles every species. If your area is not listed, the general animal helpline is 8655370005.
What should I tell an animal rescue helpline?
The species and rough size, what happened if you saw it, the injuries visible from a distance, whether it can walk or move its back legs, whether it is aggressive or has tried to bite, and the exact location — ideally a live location pin plus a nearby landmark. Give one phone number that stays reachable.
Can I give an injured animal food, water or painkillers?
Water in a shallow bowl within reach is fine if the animal is fully conscious and drinking by itself. Never pour water into the mouth of a drowsy animal, never give food to one that may need surgery, and never give human painkillers — paracetamol is lethal to cats and ibuprofen and aspirin are dangerous to dogs.
The animal ran away before help arrived. What now?
Do not chase it — that pushes it further off and back into traffic. An injured animal usually hides somewhere dark and enclosed nearby, such as under a parked car or inside a drain. Note the direction it went and anywhere it habitually sits, and call the helpline back with that information.
It is night time and nobody is answering. What should I do?
Send a WhatsApp message with a live location pin, a photograph and one line of description to every number listed for your area, then try the general animal helpline. Meanwhile keep the animal off the road, warm, covered and still, with no food or water, and call again at first light.
I have been bitten or scratched while helping. What should I do?
Wash the wound under running water with soap for several minutes — the length of the wash matters more than what you use — and see a doctor the same day about rabies post-exposure treatment. Do this for any bite or scratch from a street animal, however small the wound and however friendly the animal seemed.
This page covers reporting, containment and transport only. It is not veterinary treatment and does not replace a vet. Any injured, sick or orphaned animal should reach a registered rescue group or a veterinarian as soon as possible. If you are bitten or scratched, wash the wound under running water with soap and see a doctor the same day.