Update: After nearly two months of rehabilitation, the rescued hyena ate her last meal in captivity and was released back into the jungle one night last week. The area where she stepped out of her transfer cage was close to where she was found. The local forest department reported that more than a dozen hyenas—possibly from the rescued hyena's clan—are known to live in the area.

The following was originally posted November 22, 2011:

Late one evening in the Maharastran countryside in India, a terrified hyena was running to escape a pack of street dogs when she tumbled into a well that was not visible to her in the darkness and plunged 50 feet down to the bottom. She had evaded the dogs, but now she was banged up and hopelessly trapped.

A man happened to witness the hyena's fall, and he jumped into action, calling PETA India for help. The Animal Rahat ("rahat" means "relief" in Hindi) rescue team quickly hatched a plan. The team lowered a large net and, after several tries, was able to scoop up the hyena and pull the scared little animal to safety.

Members of the team took the hyena to the Rajiv Gandhi Rehabilitation Centre to be checked for injuries and treated, and she will eventually be returned to her clan. Hyenas can hear the calls of their clan from more than 2 miles away when they become separated, so it's possible that her family members heard her cries and are anxious for her safe return.

Most of us won't rescue a hyena in our lifetime, but with simple actions like moving turtles off the road and taking stray dogs and cats to an animal shelter, we can save animals whose lives are just as important to them as ours are to us. 

pmarkham | cc by 2.0

The goats at the Heifer International farm that I went to as a kid were particularly feisty; I remember the struggle that my mother had to get them into the milking pens, always wary of being kicked. Luckily, my mom's milking gig was only once a week, but now that I've learned more about animal-donation programs, I can only imagine how women in the drought-prone areas that Heifer shipped the goats to must have tussled daily with the animals, in addition to the headache of trying to provide them with enough food and water.

Animal-donation programs like those run by Heifer International and Oxfam do not provide a sustainable solution for global hunger. Grazing animals often cause topsoil runoff and land degradation, which can contribute to drought, leading the environmental group World Land Trust to call these programs "environmentally unsound and economically disastrous."

An exposé about a program in India that gave cows to impoverished farmers noted that the "beneficiaries" have a difficult time providing even the most basic care to the animals who have been forced upon them. Having another mouth to feed often adds to a family's burden, and the animals often suffer from horrible neglect, including malnutrition, dehydration, lack of veterinary care, and lack of shelter from the burning midday sun or freezing nighttime temperatures. On a recent trip to India, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk saw the distinctive black-and-white Holsteins and Holstein-crosses from America roaming the streets and eating plastic bags out of trash cans, which will clog their intestines and kill them. Many donated animals will end up in filthy, unregulated slaughterhouses and have their throats cut with a dull knife.

Tell your friends and family to avoid animal-donation programs and instead consider supporting sustainable, animal-friendly organizations that work to end hunger, such as The Fruit Tree Planting Foundation, Food for Life Global, VEGFAM, and Feed My Starving Children. Another way to aid poor families is to donate to the PETA-supported program Animal Rahat, which provides free veterinary care to working animals in India who are lame, sick, or injured. 

If you can't bear the thought of wrapping up another video game or pair of gloves, why not give your loved ones the gift of alleviating animal suffering? We've rolled out our PETA Presents website just in time for the holidays, and the site features gifts from $5 to $500 that protect animals every time your loved ones pull off a big red bow.

You are guaranteed not to hear, "You shouldn't have," when you wrap up a toy for a lonely chained dog, a spay/neuter surgery, or a day off for a working animal.

We'll send your recipient a beautiful e-card thanking him or her for helping animals. Or, if you prefer to have something to put under the tree, you can print a picture and description of the gift and create an attractive certificate suitable for framing.

Long after the gift cards have been spent, the candy has been eaten, and the golf clubs are gathering dust in the closet, your gift will still be helping animals. Visit PETAPresents.org to start giving today.

During the Indian festival of Diwali, people traditionally share sweets and snacks with family members and friends, so it only makes sense that staffers with Animal Rahat, a working-animal relief program in India supported by PETA, would mark the festival of lights by paying a visit to Animal Rahat's sanctuary for retired bullocks in Sangli to share some treats with their friends there.

Rahat staffers also cleaned and groomed the animals and gave them much-appreciated massages, as well as performing the traditional Hindu rituals associated with the holiday. In the photos below, you can see some of the animals in their holiday finery, enjoying their "prasad" (offerings to the goddess Lakshmi—in this case, a tasty banana).

The bullocks also enjoyed a special meal of green grass and molasses (an extra special treat), and the resident dogs dined on a holiday feast of rice and vegetables.

Find out more about Animal Rahat's vital work to provide veterinary care, rest, nutrition, shelter, aid, and retirement to working animals in India at AnimalRahat.com. Please also consider making a donation today to become a supporter of the Animal Rahat program.  

Great news from our colleagues at Animal Rahat, who not only stopped a bullock race in the Indian state of Maharashtra but also convinced the organizers to agree in writing to stop the races for good. This was no simple task: The team faced a mob of 5,000 people ready to participate in or watch the race. But with tact and persistence, they were able to spare the bulls from being forced to run.  

Despite a recent ban on bullock racing, these cruel events are still being organized in rural areas. The bullocks are malnourished and thirsty and are routinely whipped and beaten. Cruel methods are used to keep them moving, like having pieces of barbed wire wedged underneath their harnesses. Ropes that are jammed through holes pierced in the bulls' nostrils are yanked and pulled so hard that their noses are often ripped open.

Don't let "entertainment" events involving animals in your area go unchallenged. Contact the organizers to get it stopped and contact us so that we can help.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

Every year, thousands of people from all over the Indian states of Maharashtra and Karnataka travel to the village of Chinchali to attend the annual fair celebrating the goddess Mayakka Devi. Entire families pile into carts pulled by bullocks, horses, and donkeys for what can be a two-day trip across hundreds of miles. The animals often suffer from dehydration, wounds, and lameness, and some even collapse from the strain.

Animal Rahat, a working-animal relief program supported by PETA, has provided aid and emergency veterinary care to the animals in years past, but this year, under the direction of Dr. Manilal Valliyate, it went a step further and chartered buses to transport villagers to the fair in order to give the hardworking animals a long-overdue rest.

Animal Rahat's buses were a huge success—nearly 600 people took advantage of them.

To help animals along the route to the fair, Animal Rahat deployed four relief teams, including a full-time veterinary team at the busiest rest station, a veterinary team at the fair itself, an on-call emergency veterinarian for the entire route, and an education team that discussed proper animal care with animal guardians.

Along the road to Chinchali, Animal Rahat set up aid stations at which animals could eat, rest, drink water, and receive veterinary care.

Animal Rahat posters displayed at the fair warned about the dangers of hitching together animals of different species and sizes, urged people to replace nose ropes with "morkees" (halters), and discouraged people from whipping animals.

Many bullocks showed signs of severe stress, including drooling and staggering.

Molasses was given to bullocks, who are often chronically malnourished, in order to meet their immediate energy requirements.

Animal Rahat staffers urged fairgoers to provide their animals with water and to allow them to rest frequently.

Animal Rahat's veterinarians estimate that they treated hundreds of bullocks and horses for dehydration and injuries—but by providing bus transport, hundreds more animals were spared from having to make the grueling trip at all.

Written by Alisa Mullins

After nine grueling years, an elephant named Mariappan is finally free of the chains that bound him by all four legs so tightly that he could not take a single step in any direction. Mariappan was chained inside a filthy, dark shed at the Arulmigu Mariamman Temple in Samayapuram, India, until a local activist, with the help of PETA India, succeeded in convincing the temple to allow Mariappan to be moved to the Arignar Anna Zoological Park, a spacious sanctuary where he can at last feel grass beneath his feet.

Mariappan was chained for years in this temple room.

Finally outside enjoying a bath before traveling to his new home.

Unfortunately, Mariappan is not alone. Many elephants are kept in similarly miserable conditions at temples throughout India. (You may recall reading in The PETA Files about Ram Prasad, a temple elephant who is being helped by Animal Rahat, a relief organization supported by PETA.) Now PETA India and local activists are pressuring the government to free three other elephants who are kept in chains at temples in the Samayapuram area. 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

I am not a wedding gift.

Rumors that Russell Brand presented his wife, Katy Perry, with a tiger as a wedding present have been exaggerated, according to the bridegroom himself.

"I'm a vegetarian, you don't give people tigers, it's stupid, it's dangerous, and the tigers don't like it," he told ITV's Loose Women. 

Thanks for clearing that up, Russell. So for all of you who are planning to attend a wedding in the near future, you can stop worrying about how to wrap up a 500-pound cat. Sponsoring a bullock through Animal Rahat, however, is still the perfect gift for any occasion.

Written by Alisa Mullins

Comedian, actor and longtime animal defender Russell Brand married singer Katy Perry in India's Ranthambhore National Park earlier this week and received an unusual wedding gift from PETA India: a formerly oppressed and now liberated bullock.

Named Russell in honor of the groom, the bullock is no longer forced to spend day after day hauling backbreaking loads—he now lives at a retirement center operated by Animal Rahat, a relief program supported by PETA and PETA India. 

Russell (the bullock) had been severely overworked and was very weak when he was rescued, but he is now roaming grass fields and enjoying liberation from the heavy wooden yoke that used to press down on his neck as he pulled a cart in the heat and dust.

"Russell the celebrity and Russell the bullock have something in common: They are both very handsome fellows," says PETA India's Poorva Joshipura. "The gift of a namesake is also fitting because just as Russell Brand embarks on his new life as a married man, Russell the bullock has also been given a new lease on life—the heavy loads he once pulled have been lifted from his shoulders for good."

Written by Alisa Mullins

We are still receiving calls, e-mails, and blog comments about Anapka, the donkey who was recently hoisted up on a parasail and spent a terrifying 30 minutes in the air, braying for help, before crash landing in the ocean and being dragged across the beach in a promotional stunt. Great news: Anapka's days of flying are over after the British newspaper The Sun bought her in response to an onslaught of outraged reader demand.

Vets gave this personable animal a clean bill of health and offers to adopt her and get her into a safe, permanent home are pouring in.

Would you like to help other donkeys who have been abused and hurt? Oh, yes! Please check out the remarkable work of our friends at Animal Rahat.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor