It’s
Diwali time! While people are ready to enjoy the Festival of Lights to the fullest, it can turn out to be a tough time especially on Laxmi Pujan today for the poor animals be it pets or strays, with noise and air pollution due to firecrackers. Realising this fact, many city
youngsters
have raised awareness to ensure the animals and birds too have a ‘Happy Diwali’...
There is no denying that continuous sound of firecrackers can be traumatic for our four-legged, furry friends. In fact, it can take several weeks for the animals to completely recover. A dedicated group of youngsters is making efforts to ensure the animals feel safe amidst festive hullabaloo. A flag bearer of this campaign, Smita Mire, says, “For starters, we cleaned the shelter homes and decorated them colourfully so that they feel good and happy. As far as educating people is concerned, this time we took to the social media platform and appealed to people to not burst crackers and trouble the speechless animals and birds. We have made creative posters to attract the attention of the millennials.”
She also added that they have asked
pet parents
to write contact numbers on strays’ collars to track, in case they run or get lost due to crackers’ sound.
Besides raising awareness via virtual world, youngsters are also spreading their message through word of mouth. For the past one month, we have been visiting colleges and schools to urge the youngsters on how harmful the crackers can be, not just for environment or pets but also for their health,” says social activist Arvind Raturi adding that they are meeting as many people as possible to sensitise them about the ill effects of harmful smoke and sound caused by crackers. “We can’t make a difference in a single day so we have been talking to people for a month now. We even visited the slums where youngsters tie crackers to animals; tails. We are also distributing flyers of dos and don’ts this Diwali at various busy areas of the city including youngsters’ hotspots,” adds Raturi.
Even the pet parents are leaving no stone no stone unturned to keep them safe. “No matter how much you appeal, some of the over enthusiastic revellers just don’t pay heed to us,” says a pet parent Nisha Yadav, who has decided to protect her babies from the crackers’ nuisance. She adds, “I have two puppies and both of them start barking incessantly when they hear any loud noise. I have decided to keep them indoors and stay with them. In fact, I will take a few strays inside my house and leave them post midnight when everything is quiet again.”
Parul Pande shares that her labrador Diego gets petrified and starts shivering due to loud noise during Diwali. Not willing to make him go through this stressful situation this year, she has made special arrangements too. “If we lock him in the room all of a sudden tonight, then he may start getting restless so we’ve been making him stay in a room for long hours for a week now to slowly make him comfortable. Also, we had taken him to the vet to get an ear medicine a few days ago.”
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