What we do
Feeding Program
Nobody should have to go to sleep hungry at night. Sadly, street dogs in India often have to. They desperately search for leftover food from the garbage just to survive because most people don’t care enough to feed them.
Witnessing this heartbreaking sight and seeing so many dogs looking skinny and hungry as well as suffering from various skin problems due to insufficient nutrition, Susheela decided to do something about it. So in 2020, in the fisherman colony of Venpurusham village, Mahabalipuram where she lived at the time, Susheela started cooking for and feeding her 25-30 street dogs on a daily basis. The number of dogs fed daily increased to around 50 during the lockdowns in 2021 when the street dogs in Mahabalipuram beach were starving without food and water, so she started feeding them as well.
When Susheela in 2021 eventually shifted 50km away to Chennai with her 6 rescued street dogs, she could not leave the street dogs she had been feeding for almost 1,5 years, behind starving. So she searched for and finally found a person to continue the feeding work. This is how Samuel was hired who truly has turned out to be an angel in disguise for the street dogs. For more than two years now, Samuel has been feeding 45- 50 street dogs every single day. The dogs are fed a home cooked plant based meal. Seeing the happiness on the dogs faces when they hear Samuel approaching with the food, is a joy to witness and makes it all worth it.
The feeding does not only enable us to keep the street dogs healthy and well fed, it also allows us to monitor their wellbeing and notice any changes in eating and behavior on a daily basis, enabling us to immediately intervene if needed. Sometimes cars run over them or they get injured in fights with other dogs or by the hands of abusive humans. So sometimes a dog needs medicines as well. So during the feeding we also get a chance to administer the medicines needed.
The number of dogs we feed varies but is currently growing as new hungry street dogs keep appearing. Currently we have about 50 street dogs that we feed.
The feeding is not cheap and requires a constant flow of funds. Susheela had been paying for most of it from her own pocket but now needs your help to continue this important work.
For about 450 rs you can feed a dog for an entire month. for 2000rs you can feed 4 dogs. To donate one time or to become a sponsor of a dog’s monthly food, please click here.
Your support is greatly appreciated and will be what allows us to carry this work forward in a sustainable and loving way.
Rescues & medical care
No matter how much we try, we can never keep our street dogs fully safe. Sadly, even though we put reflective collars on them, people still run over them by bike and car both accidentally or purposefully, and almost always escape the crime scene without caring for the dog’s life. When one of our street dogs has an accident or any health issue, cancer etc. we immediately arrange for transport and come rescue and take them to a good hospital for tests and treatment. When possible, we admit them in the hospital but as good quality shelters and clinics that accept street dogs are mostly always full, we are left to search for alternative arrangements if the dog needs rest and intensive care.
If the dog can be released we continue the treatment on the street itself and in case of for example TVT cancer, we transport the dog weekly to the hospital to receive chemotherapy and back. When possible and needed, Susheela also brings the injured or sick dog home for rehabilitation and once the dog is fit, the dog is released back into its street. Sometimes however, with permanently injured dogs, they cant be released back and this is partly why Susheela now has 9 adopted street dogs with her at home and also why she cant take in any more.
Apart from caring for our street dogs in case of injury or illness, we also rescue street dogs in Mahabalipuram and Chennai but according to our capacity and resources. Just one case alone may require hours of focus and attention in a day to coordinate, transport and arrange for and we truly believe in quality over quantity: we would rather rescue and rehabilitate one dog well then rescue many, get overwhelmed and not be able to assure proper care for those dogs. We have locals in different parts of the city who regularly call and report accidents, illness or even abuse or neglect cases to us. If we can’t help them. we atleast try to guide them to where they may get help.
Nothing compares to the feeling of being able to see your rescue totally transformed from weak and in pain to a healthy and happy dog. We consider it a privilege to be able to help these sweet souls to recover and heal. The more support we have, the more animals we can rescue. Without funds there is not much we can do. If you would like to support rescuing sick and injured street dogs, please donate here.
Animal birth control & vaccinations
We have sadly witnessed so many street dogs die of deadly diseases as well as die or get permanently injured in accidents or by the hands of humans or other animals. We can’t prevent all the suffering but we can definitely minimize and save a lot of innocent lives by timely sterilization and vaccination of the street dogs. This is why our aim is to sterilize and vaccinate all the street dogs that are part of our feeding program and apart from that on a monthly basis sterilize more street dogs from Mahabalipuram and Chennai. Currently we have sterilized around 25 of our street dogs but we still have more to do, focusing first on the female dogs as they suffer the most.
The cycle of suffering for the street dogs can only be stopped by animal birth control (ABC). By sterilizing the dogs, we don’t only prevent new puppies from being born into a life of pain and hardship, but we also largely prevent the spreading of the contagious cancer mass called TVT that spreads mainly through mating. When street dogs are sterilized injuries caused by fights of male dogs seeking the female dogs attention can be avoided. When a female dog in the streets is in heat she is first receptive to males but towards the end of her cycle (periods) she rejects them but the males keep forcing themselves on her and the female may end up suffering for more than a week without anywhere to hide from the males. A female dog can go into heat several times in one year and give birth to more than 20 puppies per year!
Sterilization also protects female dogs from various diseases and cancers. Not only for health benefits but to stop the cycle of suffering, we must sterilize them.
Another extremely important part of caring for street dogs and prevent terrible suffering and death is vaccinating them on time. Parvovirus, canine distemper and rabies are some of the most dangerous diseases that sadly most often lead to death. Rabies also transmits to humans hence even for the safety of humans vaccinating street dogs regularly is of utmost importance. We vaccinate all the street dogs that we are able to catch on a yearly basis. Apart from our feeding program dogs we also aim to vaccinate more street dogs at the same time of sterilization and admission at the hospital.
We would like to point out that unfortunately many clinics and hospitals don’t follow proper safety and hygiene guidelines or proper post of care when it comes to surgeries hence we are extremely careful about where we admit our dogs for surgery. We take full responsibility for the animal being picked up for surgery, sterilized and released back into the exact same place without any health complications. We don’t think it is ethical to just pick up in uncompassionate ways and sterilize them in unhygienic or low standard places just to reduce the population. We believe everything should be done with utmost care and love.
For 4000 rs you can pay for sterilizing and vaccinating a street dog and safely transporting them to and from the hospital. By supporting sterilization, you can save a life. Click here to support us sterilizing street dogs in Mahabalipuram and Chennai.
Raising awareness
In today’s society social media is a platform where people not only get entertained but also learn and get exposed to information and various topics that they otherwise would not. Short form videos are found to be excellent ways in to share important information, also when it comes to street dogs and their need for help and care. So what we do is that we actively try to create content in which people in India would start to view street dogs in a more compassionate way and show them respect. We want to inspire people to do their part and get involved with street dogs.
So far we have gotten a lot of positive feedback from people across the country saying that they have been inspired to start feeding or small rescues here and there. So not only the ground work is important but also trying to reach a wider audience of people who hopefully will be positively affected by the content we share and want to take action. Sharing rescue stories, recovery/transformation stories and adoption stories are powerful ways to make people understand that no matter the situation, we should always do something to help those in need. You can also support us by sharing our content on social media. Link below to our instagram page and if you to support us financially to reach and help more street dogs, please click here
