A heaven for deserted animals

Banjara Hills: His name is Devan Baheti and his safe house for dogs is called 'Deven's Hope' at Banjara Hills. An aeronautical engineer, Baheti, along with his friends Sonam, Swathi and Mahender, runs the shelter for deserted animals.

There are mostly indigenous breeds, but he also extends help for abandoned foreign breeds. On many instances, owners abandon old and sick dogs. Narrating one such case, he said 'Lexie', an Indian pariah, changed his life and made him care for animals, which is born out of selfless love. It is the first animal he rescued from a water hole. Lexie in Italian means something we cannot miss. He then hit upon the idea of setting up an NGO, Deven's Hope, six years ago.

Daven and his friends claim to have rescued more than 3,000 animals that included dogs, cats, birds, camels, horses, donkeys and many more. In the past, every house had an Indian Pariah, Jonangi or Pandikona – all indigenous dogs. Over a period, they were replaced with foreign breeds.

The fund for these activities is raised at 'Pet's Café,' a cafeteria. It was started one-and-a-half years ago in partnership with his friend Sonam Singh. They also use social media for crowd funding initiatives.

Customers of Pet Cafe, who are not afraid of animals, can play with dogs, cats while sipping their coffee. At present there are 22 Indian dogs in Pet Cafe, and every dog has its own story.

Deven says that, he rescued 'Angel' during last Diwali, who was severely burnt by fire crackers. Now she is one of the favourite pets of regular customers. All those rescued animals are given treatment and placed online for adoption. Adoption is for free and there is no sale of animals in this cafe. Deven also carries out pre- and post-adoption checks to ensure the animals are in safe hands.