A saviour of strays, his house shelters 13 mutts

Badhewal Road: The sight of stray dogs smashed by speeding vehicles pressed on roads doesn't affect most of us. It may disturb a few for a moment but the indifference towards their lives carries on as the poor animal is considered nothing but a nuisance in our surroundings.
Similar were the fates of Zoro, Chimpu, Bulbul, Maina and Lucky until they were spotted in miserable conditions by Amarjeet Singh Baath of Badhewal Road and got a home away from the fatal streets.The benevolent master of this family of strays has adopted eight other members over the period of last five years.
Amarjeet says he drew inspiration from his sister Balvinder Kaur, a veterinary doctor.
"Looking at her, I too, started adopting strays and today I have 13 dogs living peacefully with me,'' says Amarjeet.
Amarjeet himself looks after his pack of pets who get medical care from his sister. "I feel people should take it as a social responsibility to adopt a stray dog, may be together as a community, and get them vaccinated. We could sterilize the female dogs to prevent their numbers of increasing,'' he adds.
"Stray dogs are not ferocious at all. They react only when threatened or harmed as they do not have a definite area as their territory. The domestic pets, however, have a sense of their territory at homes and become ferocious for strangers,'' says Amarjeet.
He adopted only the sick ones from the streets and feels these strays have a short lifetime on roads as they are prone to diseases, accidents and fights. Amarjeet maintains medical cards for all his pets and has them vaccinated. Most of his female pets are sterilized too.
Some of his dogs have also won appreciation awards in stray dogs category at the dog show organized by Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Science University (GADVASU). Amarjeet feeds milk, pedigree and dalia to his pets twice a day and has made separate living shelters and cages for all dogs.