Bhopal’s animal-lovers open their homes to strays during heavy rains

The heavy rains in Bhopal are hard on not just humans, but even the city’s stray cats and dogs, who often find themselves drenched, with no shelter from the pouring skies.
And so, several city animal lovers have been opening their doors to these strays, and are providing them with shelter, food and love amidst the downpour.
We spoke to some of these good samaritans, who stressed on the importance of lending a hand to animals during extreme weather.
College student Atharv Khare says he brings home ill dogs and cats during monsoon and nurses them, before giving them up for adoption.
“I have been doing this for eight years. Though I do it all-year-round, strays need extra help when it's raining. I recently set up a makeshift shelter in the Char Imli area, where two female dogs had given birth to twelve puppies. They had no place to go to.”
Atharv adds, “Whatever I do for the dogs is with my own pocket money. However, now people near that place have also started giving food to the dogs, which has helped in a big way. I often bring dogs home during the monsoon and feed them, and as soon as the rain stops they leave themselves.”
He recently recused three puppies from the old city, that had been abandoned in a sewage line.
New Market resident 27-year-old Charulata Mahajan too has opened her doors to strays this monsoon. “Every night, till early in the morning, the main gate of my house - which leads to the porch - stays open for the fur balls to seek shelter. During the day, they find a place to stay, but nights are tough for them. I have also kept a mat for the animals to come in and rest on, besides food.”
Homemaker Aarti Kothari, from Rachna Nagar, cooks extra rotis for her furry guests who take shelter in her garage. “Due to the heavy rainfall in the city, I had opened my garage’s gate for strays to take shelter in the night or whenever it is raining. Since the past week, three dogs come over every night. From the looks of it, they have a rough day and seek peace here, so I cook a few extra rotis for them when I am cooking for my family,” shares Aarti.

CS student Baljeet Singh has turned his society’s visitor’s parking area into a makeshift shed. “At my residential society at the airport road, we have a visitor’s parking which is a long patch of cemented road. Hardly anyone parks there, so we have covered it from above with plastic tarpaulin. Here, the strays can stay safe during the bad weather,” shares Baljeet.
It’s not just the rains that are cruel to these animals, but also human beings, making their ordeal doubly harder.
Animal enthusiast Swati Gaurav recounts one such incident – “A lady once called me saying that a puppy in front of her house was getting drenched in rain, so I should come and rescue it. The lady told me that she lived in an independent property so I requested her to keep the puppy so that I can take it from her after a few days. She refused, and eventually I had to go and bring it to my house. I rescued a female Rottweiler from new market whose owners had broken her legs and left her in the rain with fractured legs. Now the dog is under treatment and recovering slowly.”
Aishwarya Kumari Singh Deo, who opened a shelter home in Chandanpura in 2011, says, “I am currently hosting around 50-55 strays in my shelter. We take care of them till they are good to go. As we have limited space, we have constructed a makeshift shelter outside, where strays can live during the monsoons. We keep food there as well. Apart from this, I also ask everyone I know to keep their doors open for strays during heavy rainfall, so that they have a place to go to.”
Animal activist Swati Gaurav has built a similar shade in her shelter and says, “Many volunteers too have built makeshift shelters in their homes for strays. An as for those who are short of money, I provide them with food and material to build such shelters.”