Samaritans For The Voiceless

It is a known fact that the traffic in the city has always been very volatile. Day-in and day-out, many road accidents take place in the city. Most of these accidents are attributed to human negligence and human error. But amidst all the human casualties due to accidents, the only victims that are left unaccounted for are the stray animals. Dattatreya Joshi, CEO, People for Animals- Hyderabad Chapter (PFA), says that on a daily basis they receive 10-20 animals who are injured in traffic accidents. “As the concrete jungle keeps growing, more and more animals are losing their natural habitat and are coming on to the roads. Once they are out on the roads, they are left to the mercy of the motorists,” he said.

The PFA, has over a 100 volunteers in the city who respond to complaints and grievances regarding animals from the general public around the clock. “Every time we receive a call from the public, we make sure that we send one of our volunteers to tend to the injured animal. We also have an ambulance which reaches the site of the accident,” said Dattatreya. During the rescue operations, not only have they founds dogs and cats as the victims they have also rescued snakes and birds.

After they rescue the animal, they investigate into the accident and try to gain the vehicle’s registration number so that a hit-and-run case can be filed against the motorists. “It is due to gross negligence on the driver’s part that we see so many animals injured in accidents. We make sure we speak to eye-witnesses to track the driver and register a case against him,” says the CEO.

The PFA spends close to Rs 45000-50000 on the treatment of all the injured animals. Currently the PFA does not receive any money from the government. They sustain on various donations received from benefactors for the treatment of animals. After the animals have been treated, all the young ones are put out for adoption and the others are returned to their original habitat. “When we put the dogs out for adoption, we make sure that they are sent to a good home where people will take care of them. Our only plea to the people is that, if they see any animal being mistreated they should contact us and we will take immediate action,” said Dattatreya Joshi.