CHENNAI: Street dogs have never had it good; the pandemic — as devastating as it has been for us humans — has only made it worse. From one lockdown to another, avenues of shelter and sustenance grew scarcer. With the fear of the virus gripping the misinformed masses, abandoned house dogs were soon joining their ranks every day. Yet, thanks to Chaya Devi and her group of trusted volunteers, the canines in some part of the city have escaped the grip of disease and death. An animal activist, Chaya’s work in the field of animal rescue and rehabilitation began when she brought home Ramu — a three-legged Indian mongrel in need of saving — last year.
Since the first lockdown in the city, Chaya and her team have rescued and rehabilitated over 20 dogs. Many of them were abandoned house dogs, it seems. Wealth and education have done little to persuade them otherwise, she remarks. “The pandemic has put a lot of pressure on people and their living arrangements. Many families have abandoned their pets as they are not able to care for them anymore,” she explains. One such dog she had to rescue was a Rottweiler abandoned by its owner because he couldn’t attend to the pet without the domestic help who usually handled him.
Finding himself in unfamiliar territory, the dog had gone around biting people he came across. By the time Chaya could get to him (heeding to a call from a volunteer in that area), he had been attacked with stones and acid too, and tied to a pole, she narrates. Ramu too had been rescued from similar distress. Chaya had been used to seeing the dog near the temple in her area. It was when he didn’t come around to meet her, uncharacteristically, that she found out that he had been run over by a car. She found him with a leg in need of amputation. Mindful of the amount of medical attention and care he would need, she decided to take him home.
Besides such rescue effort, Chaya and her team of 25 volunteers have been feeding hundreds of stray d o gs in Adya r, Kodambakkam and T Nagar over the past few months. Chaya’s work soon attracted the interest of likeminded people and help came pouring in. Sankalp Beautiful World (with its mission to eradicating cancer) and Varalakshmi Sarathkumar’s Save Shakti campaign (one leading the fight against violence against women and children) pitched in with funds and volunteers. Having done her part, Varalakshmi also took to Instagram to urge people not to abandon their pets.
Moved by the request, the netizens came forward to donate as much as Rs 6 lakh for the cause. Goutham Chander, founder and CEO of Sankalp, who took to the effort after coming across Varalakshmi’s Instagram video about it, says, “Taking care of the helpless was the need of the hour; stray animals were one among them.” He managed to rope in major dog food suppliers to provide Chaya and team with nearly 5.4 tonnes of dog food.
Chaya has also been helping people adopt dogs, finding the right one for their needs and means. But it was since the lockdown that she has been able to step up her social work and reach out to more animals in need. It hasn’t just stopped there — the team has been working to help migrant workers stuck in Chennai, Puducherry and the neighbouring districts to get back home. From arranging for train/bus tickets to providing for their keep in the meantime, the team — along with collaborators Save Shakti and Sankalp — has been very hands-on. You know they have much more in the works when Chaya says these collaborations are for a lifetime.