HYDERABAD: Very morning Rachna Neja collects the milk packets the delivery person leaves at the gate of her home in Banjara Hills, pours the milk in a few plastic containers and puts them in the garden. From behind the Saptaparni tree come three meowing cats in grey, ginger and black fur to slurp the white drink. They then dig the mud and tumble on the ground licking their paws.
Rachna, who’s come to Hyderabad from Amritsar, has several cats back home. She says, “I live in a rented place here; others sharing the accommodation have left for their homes before the lockdown began. These cats, which used to come earlier as well, were hungry and I decided to order milk to feed them.” She also keeps sliced bread to give to the cats which have now made the garden their home. The 31-year-old pharmacist contacted Blue Cross for the animals to be adopted. A poster was circulated as well. But there are no takers till the lockdown is on. So, she’s adopted them for now.
At the same time most of the stray dogs are unable to get food as the dustbins are nearly empty especially in areas around hostels and shared accommodations. But there are some people and a few NGOs involved in distribution of essential items and food packets and they have taken it upon themselves to feed these stray animals. Says Arun Daniel Yellamaty of Youngistaan Foundation, “We have been feeding 250 dogs on a daily basis. We carry food for them while we distribute essentials in different areas.” He has volunteers to help him who ride their bikes to these neighbourhoods for the distribution services.
Chirumamilla Vijayalakshmi, 68, has been staying at Kukatpally for the last 22 years. From then till now, she’s taking care of the stray dogs in the area. She’s also been a life member of Blue Cross. She says, “Everyday at 4.30 pm I feed at least 18 dogs with chicken necks cooked with rice and lever cooked in milk. Despite health issues I have been doing it with a little help from my helper Kasi Reddy. All expenses are borne by me. I am doing what I can do best for these poor animals. The expression of the animals give me such joy that is indescribable.” She’s also adopted puppies and got them treated.
Priscilla Pravanthi, lives at Madhapur aand has been rescuing animals since childhood. “I began noticing hungry stray dogs as a lot of these animals come looking for food. I cook food at home for around 20 dogs. Other than that I also offer them biscuits, bread, Pedigree food and chicken legs. We do it every alternate day at morning and night.”
No wonder then that the stray dogs in her area recognise their benefactor Rohit Kumar Bondugula, a research scholar in Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) and his team along with Pradeep Nair, founder of Animal Warrior Conservation Society have been feeding stray dogs and wild animals in the university campus which has a habitat for 200 plus species of birds, several mammals and reptiles. They have been giving the dogs cooked food while keeping water bowls for the birds as they provide vegetables and grass for wildlife animals in the campus.
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