BENGALURU: Bengaluru proves to be a city of angels once more. Its residents united a mother dog, who lost her puppies in flooding from recent rains, with a litter who had lost their mother to the same disaster. And the bitch happily accepted this days-old litter as her own, caring for them in a temporary shelter built by kind residents of Maturi Sevanagar.
On Saturday, animal lover Vibha Vaman posted a plea on a Facebook group. She reported that a bitch had lost her litter in the flooding and was roaming the streets in their neighbourhood searching for them. The dog had sought shelter for her puppies in the drains but the pouring rain had flushed them away. The puppies were later found dead, mutilated by predators. Vibha, employed with Accenture, was on her usual rounds to check on her neighbourhood dogs when she found this seven-month-old bitch running in and out of bylanes, seemingly in search of something. Residents told her that the dog had littered and another dog-lover told Vibha that a few puppies were found dead after the rains. “The dog looked like she was in pain, whining and looking for comfort,” says Vibha. “I knew she was a friendly dog and thought she may adopt another motherless litter, and put up that post on Facebook.”
Meanwhile, 12 km away in Chandralayout, Satish Chandra was having tea with his friend when he found eight puppies who were only days-old, by a drain. He called Rajesh, an animal rescuer, and asked for help. Rajesh directed Chandra to Vibha and Chandra brought the puppies over to Maruti Sevanagar.
“Initially, when we asked for space for the puppies, residents were reluctant thinking it might turn out to be a headache. Then a couple agreed to keep them in a corner if a temporary shelter was built,” says Vibha. “Chandra and his friend started picking up stones from here and there to build it, and slowly people started joining in. Even the couple and residents who were earlier reluctant came forward to build it… I have never seen anything like this before. Usually, they ask me to dump street dogs and puppies somewhere else.”Once the puppies were placed out of the cardboard box, the bitch sniffed around them and gradually started licking and grooming them.