Animals refuse food after ITBP's horse whisperer dies

CHANDIGARH, Jul 20: For a day after their trainer and caregiver sub-inspector Mangal Singh died, horses of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) refused to eat. Singh had a special bond with the animals which he had been grooming for the last two years, his colleagues said.

S ingh, 47, fed the horses at 6am on Monday at ITBP's animal training centre (ATS) at Lohitpur in Arunachal Pradesh and died an hour later following a heart attack. He was considered one of ITBP's best animal trainers and was known to talk to his equine friends while feeding and grooming them.

"It is likely that the animals sensed something had happened to him. None of the horses ate when they were given their feed at 12 noon and 6pm on Monday. The next day, they had only half of what is routinely served to them," an officer told TOI.

It took two days to bring Singh's body back to his hometown of Una in Himachal Pradesh, a distance of around 3,000 km. He was cremated with full military honours on Wednesday.

Sudhakar Natarajan, ITBP's deputy inspector general and veterinarian, said the animals had "lost their best friend" and ITBP lost a great soldier who had played an important role during his posting at Kabul between 2013 and 2016. "He was an inspiration for the troops and will always be remembered for his role in Kabul," Natarajan said.

Singh was the K9 (ITBP's dog squad) commander at the Indian embassy in Kabul from 2013 to 2016. His explosive detection attack dogs (EDAD) were responsible for protecting Indian assets from Taliban and IS attacks. One of his Labradors named Queen had detected an RDX bomb that could have blown up the entire embassy. He received several awards, including the Kathin Sewa Padak and Foreign Service Medal. (Courtesy: TOI)