Deven Baheti’s rescued and fostered pet cat is called Dog; it was the first animal he picked up and cared for. Now Dog follows Deven like a shadow everywhere he goes at his Pet Cafe. Today, the likes of Deven are growing and so are videos of animal rescue and animal fostering from around the country. Needless to say, most of us are hooked on to these tear-jerking videos on social media.
Remember the clip of a man from Assam feeding a flock of Indian kingfishers with his hand? The kingfishers he had cared for as chicks, come to him when he stands and calls out for them. Such heart-warming videos are encouraging a lot of people to foster animals and birds who need care.
What is animal fostering? It means bringing in a cat or dog, a bird or a piglet, or any other homeless pet and nurturing them for a while until they are dispatched to a permanent home with a family.
BANGALORE, 15/04/2012: Indian dog adopted/rescued by pet lovers, participating in 'The Great Indian Dog Show - 2012', at Government Veterinary Hospital, on Queens Road, near Cantonment Railway Station, in Bangalore.Photo: K. Murali Kumar
Hyderabad is witnessing a whole lot of animal lovers who are ready to do their bit for animal welfare. Their love for animals goes beyond their status message and videos on social media. “This is a new crop of animal lovers who would do their best to save an animal that’s fighting for survival. People used to foster animals individually earlier. Social media has helped us come closer and deal with situations we hadn’t faced earlier,” says Seema Mohanchandran , an active member of the growing animal fostering community in Hyderabad. “I once found a baby myna that had fallen from a tree. Even though I picked it up to save it from dying, I was at sea when it came to dealing with care and feeding. It was a tiny bird and I had fostered only cats until then. The moment I reached out to a group on FB, suggestions and help poured in. The bird was with us until it was ready to fly away. That was my first bird fostering.”
Animal lover Havovi Batliwala says she cannot bear to see the plight of helpless kittens left to fend for themselves. So she has begun picking little kittens and taking care of them until they are ready to be adopted. “I have to lure stray kittens to come with me. I keep a carton of malt biscuits in my car and carry a small packet in my bag to lure them. Until last week I had five kittens with me, thankfully they found their forever loving homes,” she says.
Chitra Gopi who started caring for animals says, “The handful of animal NGOs is not enough to take care of stray cats and dogs. News of animals dying in shelters run by NGOs are also common. So, we should open our homes to help these animals live.”
Thankfully, a lot of cafés in the city are pet-friendly and promote the idea of fostering and give out their place to promote adoption.
Most animal fosters assure that there is no need to be worried about getting stuck with the animals in case they do not get adopted. Add to it the constraints of the growing number of people living in apartments. “It is not possible to house all the cats and dogs we foster. In times like these, networking with animal lovers on social media helps. The fraternity of animal lovers do anything and everything possible to find homes for cats and dogs,” says Lavanya, another cat foster.
Awareness of animal care and choosing to be vocal and reporting any form of abuse is also having an impact on peopleTo understand about how fostering and adoption works, posts on social media are the best platforms one can get information from. A few such homepages are People for Animal Hyderabad, Voice of Voiceless Hyderabad, HYD pet adoption and Hyderabad pets.
