Bikers push for rescued animals’ adoption

PUNE:

Bikers

from across the city are riding to a local

animal rescue centre

to spread the message of adopting animals rather than buying them from pet shops on Sunday.

Once they reach their destination, they will participate in a workshop on adoption and caring for rescued animals and meet the 21 Beagles that were recently rescued from a pharmaceutical research lab near Pune.

Bikers under the collective ‘Bikerhood’ will participate in the event aptly named ‘Meet the Pupstars’. Co-founder of the group, Tina Mohandas told TOI, “We expect as many as 70 bikers from various biking clubs of the city to be riding together to the

RESQ Charitable Trust

shelter on Sunday morning. The collective aims to bring awareness to causes by riding for them and affecting positive change.”

The group will meet the rescued Beagles, referred to as ‘Freagles’, as well as other rescued animals housed there.

The bikers, under supervision from street artist Shirin Shaikh, will also be painting various pieces on the walls of the shelter. During the day, three different bands will also give acoustic-only performances so as to not disturb the animals, she said.

The group is also unveiling a song on the theme of

pet adoption

, and will unveil the song at the event. In addition, there will also be some good food served there.

As reported earlier by TOI, more than 300 residents of the city had applied to adopt one of the 21 beagles aged 6 to 8 years.

“After a long screening process, 6 families so far have been short-listed. Hence, many of the animals will still need a home. The event on Sunday will be open to not only to the bikers but also other potential adopters,” Neha Panchamiya of RESQ said.

This could also lead to more of them being adopted, as well as people coming forth to sponsor the care for other rescued animals at the shelter, she added. Panchamiya will also be hosting workshops on the health of these animals, the process of adoption, and about how to care for pets.

On January 27, as many as 21 dogs were rescued from a rescued from Lupin Research Park in Lavale by RESQ and the city unit of

People for Animals

(PFA).

This was the after the intervention of union cabinet minister Maneka Gandhi, under the Committee for the Purpose of Control and Supervision of Experiments on Animals (CPCSEA) guidelines.