Their love for pets, it seems, knows no boundaries: Federica Schmid (26) from Italy and Tiffany Donson (23) from France work as volunteers at the People for Animals (PfA) shelter in Red Hills.
While Ms. Schmid spent all her savings to undertake six months of voluntary work with PfA, Ms. Dosnon took a loan from a bank for her stay. Both will gain hands-on experience in providing care to abandoned and rescued pets at the shelter.
Shiranee Pereira, co-founder, PfA, said the organisation welcomed animal-lovers from abroad to work as volunteers in their organisation.
Talking to TheHindu, Ms. Schmid said: “Basically I am a vegan, who grew up with animals at home.” After completing a course on graphic design and art direction, she learnt yoga in Italy. “For my interests, India is the only destination,” she added.
Ms. Dosnon said she borrowed a loan of 5,000 Euros for her work which she has to repay after a couple of years.
Her parents were not very happy when she announced that she was going to India to work as a volunteer at PfA. “When the wall collapse incident in Tiruvallur district was reported in the news, my mother was worried and spoke from France,” she said.
Ms. Pereira said three more foreigners — two from Germany and one from France — are expected to join the organisation to do voluntary work from September.
