Enthusiasm abounds for furry friends

Secunderabad: With an intention to find loving families for abandoned stray dogs and cats, an adoption drive was organised by VOHA Welfare Society in collaboration with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation authorities at the Zoroastrian Club here on Sunday. As many as 40 families welcomed their new companions, and hundreds of animal lovers thronged the premises to show their support for the noble cause.

“Although people sympathise with the sufferings that strays undergo on the streets, hardly a few bother to care for them or raise them. We are so pre-occupied in talking of buying foreign breeds that we often forget to care for those helpless beings we see every day in our neighbourhood. My pet dog died during an accident while crossing the street and I decided I would not let any other harmless creature meet a similar fate. It is when I came up VOHA Welfare Society to support these homeless animals,” said 22-year-old G S Sanjana Bhavani, founder of VOHA Welfare Society.

Not only strays but also those, whose owners could not keep them for personal reasons, were put up for adoption at the event. “I stay in a rented house and now I have to shift with my family into a smaller one. So, I cannot take Lucky (my pet) with me; my parents go for work and I must go to school. Hence, I have no option but to give him to someone who would treat him well. But I will miss him,” shared Raju, owner of a cross lab dog.

Counsellors at the event explained first-time owners about how to handle their pets and advised them against using the animals for commercial purposes. Apart from offering consultations, free food samples to nourish the animals were distributed by the Pedigree Pet Supplies unit at the venue.

By aiding for owners in registering their companions, GHMC officials too played their part in helping the homeless creatures find themselves caring households to dwell. Under the supervision of J Shankaraiah, Commissioner of North Zone GHMC, 13 vaccinated puppies from the Jeedimetla animal shelter were put up at the adoption drive under the “Maa Inti Nestham” scheme for families to bestow them a new life. Speaking on the occasion, Bhaskar Rao, the shelter officer said, “It is true that we catch and release stray dogs after sterilising them, but it is also true that it feels happy to see that someone is willingly taking up the responsibility to treat them as their family.”