Take the e-way to animal care

It was 11pm when he heard a shriek outside his home. Shocked and concerned, Ashish went out and saw a dreaded sight he had anticipated. Snowy had been run over by a vehicle. Whimpering in pain, the dog was brutally injured. Snowy was a stray and had given birth to a litter of three a few weeks back. While one of them had died in an accident, the other was adopted by a family.The third one, a female, the weakest, wasn’t so lucky. After months of trying to find her a home, Ashish finally took the little one in and named her Fiona.
Before long, his good friend Anupam Singh came back to Lucknow, leaving behind a well paying job in Mumbai. Unhappy over the condition of animals at shelter homes in Mumbai, he thought of starting a pan-India initiative for stray animals, especially dogs. Teaming up with Ashish, Anupam launched a website in May 2013 with the aim to create a national database of animal activists who can communicate with each other and create a network of ‘hands-on-ground’ volunteers and fosters besides providing information on healthcare and behaviour of animals.
According to Anupam, “Animalswecare.com is devoted to the cause of pets and stray animals. We aspire to change the landscape of animal welfare by acting as a platform for all the non-government organizations (NGOs), activists and animal lovers to collaborate, share resources and spread information.”
The duo also works as volunteers with NGOs for stray ABC (animal birth control) drives, medical care, adoption and rescue operations apart from feeding 20-plus dogs in their neighbourhood and Gwari shelter for animals in Gomtinagar. There are around 59,000 stray dogs in the city according to Lucknow Municipal Corporation records.

Being socially active has been advantage for them as they usually get SOS calls during the night. People usually find their contact number on the internet.
Ashish recollects how one NGO worker had lost his thumb during a. “The animal was infected and had grown aggressive. As people are usually hostile towards stray animals, the dog had been beaten up and pelted with stones. Already terrified, the animal attacked the NGO worker in defence and bit his thumb off, but the worker didn’t stop working for animal welfare.”
“There have been many cases like this but no one stopped working for animals as they know all that these animals need is love and care. If you start feeding even biscuits to a stray dog near your house, it will forever be loyal to you. Moreover, the Indian breed of dogs has shown it is fiercer in protecting owners than its Western counterparts,” he added.
According to coordinator, Animal Ashram, Chitra Singh, “The duo work as a team and are ready to volunteer for any kind of help at any hour. There have been instances when they have taken stray animals, badly injured in an accident, to private clinics if the doctors at government-run hospitals are not available.”
Anupam and Ashish together have two cats and two dogs. Ashish’s dog Jojo was adopted from a shelter. He was barely three months old and suffered from acute separation anxiety and food aggression. At the shelter, he contracted distemper, a fatal viral infection that kills half of all dogs infected. Jojo survived with timely medical intervention and a lot of care. He is now a healthy, friendly and possessive dog who loves food and playtime with his sibling Fiona.