BENGALURU: Doctors Michel G Morton and Swathi Hareendran come across many injured street dogs and cats rescued by animal lovers at their clinic. “In a month, we used to get seven to eight street dogs. People who are bringing them to us may not be able to take care of them. Most of the NGOs are always occupied with a lot of animals. If we get strays, we can’t just send them away, right? We have to do something,” feels Dr Morton, who was one of the initial members of CUPA.
It was from that thought that the two vet doctors decided to start The Blue Ridge Animal Welfare Trust on Hennur Road three weeks ago with an aim to provide first-aid to street dogs and cats at the hospital completely free of cost. “If the animal is seriously injured, we give them after-care. We keep them with us for sometime and see whether we can rehabilitate them. Once they are out of danger, the animal is sent back to the road. They know how to survive, after all. They have been living there for all these time,” the 58-year-old Dr Morton added.
The trust’s vision is to create an animal shelter for treatment and rehabilitation of injured and diseased animals. “We also want to conduct camps for primary animal healthcare, vaccination and deworming. We are actively involved in Animal Birth Control in Kothanur area and initiate a unique non-invasive ABC programme or IUD, where no hostage or physical control of animals is required,” says Dr Swathi (28). Their other focus will be on hosting awareness programmes on street animal welfare in schools and institutions and partner with other animal welfare organisations on a common platform.
“I am planning to tie up with other NGOs. Regarding financial support, if you do good work, people will definitely come forward to help you. That’s happening in our case. Whatever financial support we get will be fully invested on the treatment. We will take care of other administrative expenses ourselves,” Dr Morton concludes. For details, call 091089 80086.