GUWAHATI, June 3 - As a step towards ensuring availability of drinking water for street dogs during hot summer days, a group comprising animal lovers of the city working for rescue and treatment of street dogs has launched a drive to distribute water bowls to various business entities like meat shops, restaurants, etc.
These animals lovers got introduced to one another through a Facebook group named �Rescues and Pets: Guwahati� and have been working for the welfare of street animals for the past few months.
Explaining the noble motive behind this initiative, the �Admin� of the Facebook group Rashmi Choudhury, who also took part in the water bowl distribution drive, said, �Last year we were trying to carry out the same drive and had placed some bowls at some locations of the city. But, most of those utensils were stolen, perhaps by scavengers. This time, I consulted a Hyderabad-based organisation which is also working for the welfare of street dogs and has already placed 6,000 such water bowls across Hyderabad. They advised us to provide the water bowls to shopkeepers.�
Rashmi stated that they had got mixed response from the shopkeepers of the city, where some of them welcomed the initiative and another section refused to accept the water bowls. Meanwhile, this group has also started a crowd-funding campaign through the online platform �Milaap.org� to raise funds for treatment of injured street dogs of Guwahati.
According to Rashmi, they have started treating injured street dogs from the past one year, but recently they have been facing financial hardship in continuing the work as the number of injured dogs in the city has been increasing day by day.
�Till date, we have treated more than 145 animals in one year. We also do sterilisation, vaccination and help in adoptions. Being a self-financed organisation, it is extremely difficult for us to manage the funds as we don�t have a shelter and have to pay Rs 200 per day for accommodation and food for one animal, which comes to Rs 6,000 per animal per month,� she said.
Rashmi added that as they do not have their own vehicle, they had to rely on autorickshaws and taxis for transporting sick or injured animals.
�All these expenses are excluding the treatment and medicine costs. With so many constraints, it becomes very difficult to carry on our work. So, please help us continue our work by donating for the cause,� the group stated in the appeal made in the online platform. Till Monday, more than Rs 26,000 had been collected through this initiative as shown by the online platform in its website.
