A long tiring day, but one full of events and great stories: India looks like it is going to be an interesting episode. We are looking at the big question of euthanasia in animals and at what stage it is deemed correct to put an animal “to sleep”. The debate on human-euthanasia is massive and often appears in the papers every couple of years as an article on the positives and negatives. But I think that it is pretty much a given in the UK that if a pet is terminally ill or has an expensive problem the animal will be put down without any hesitation, and I can’t recall ever seeing this issue ever being debated in national newspapers. Now I understand the argument that they are animals and we have some higher level of consciousness, but I do find it funny that it is accepted as the norm. However, at the Karuna Sanctuary we were presented with animals that looked in dire conditions – a dog dragging himself around with his two front legs – and yet they are cared for by the owners of the sanctuary, who feel that they do still have a good quality of life. They argue that having spent much time with these animals they can monitor and observe to ensure that their quality of life is never negated. And if it is then the creature will eventually be put down. I can see their point of view and admire their courage and tenacity, although I can’t believe that some of the dogs are comfortable dragging their hind-quarters behind them. Having said that I do hope that we portray the society in good light as they are truly doing a great job for many other animals.

On a completely different note I think the crew and myself might go on a bit of a detox on this trip as beer seems to be banned. You never know we might actually look like kung-fu stars by the end!