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How animal lovers can make Delhi a better place

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Kanika Dewan
Kanika DewanSep 14, 2015 | 18:55

How animal lovers can make Delhi a better place

Whether you love to criticise Delhi or simply love it, there's no denying the city can be a pretty frustrating place to live in at times. No one seems to particularly care about anyone or anything, but themselves. The newspapers highlight my frustrations when it comes to traffic, pollution, corruption, poverty, crime, gross neglect… This rant can go on. Who cares, right?

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Not all stories, however, are bleak. One particularly heart-warming story is of Friendicoes - the animal welfare organisation - that has been tirelessly defending the defenseless, loyal, adorable, caring four-legged bundles of unconditional love since 1979.

As many of you are aware, Friendicoes faced a major crisis in the last few weeks. Owing to their strident policy of never refusing an animal in need of treatment or shelter, they ended up with a Rs 78 lakh debt. This is partly because their joint venture with the MCD resulted in the civic agency not paying their share (till date). This stopped their night ambulance services, probably the only reliable one in the city, and for the first time started saying "no" to animals in need.

Friendicoes was on the verge of shutting down when a desperate plea for help went viral. What followed next was just a huge sigh of relief.

Frendicoes managed to raise approximately Rs 20 lakh in two days. An additional Rs 20 lakh followed in the next fortnight. Money started pouring in from foreign countries too. The organisation finally had enough to stay open, but the buck (and the rupee) didn't stop there. People in the city have held various fundraisers, music events; college and schools students have volunteered, and recently an anonymous donor pledged up to Rs 20 lakh, donated through bitgiving. This heart-warming list goes on. Friendicoes has so far managed to raise Rs 75 lakh.

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I met Pia Sharma (who handles communication, fostering and adoption at Friendicoes) at the Jungpura shelter recently. She felt overwhelmed by the generosity and kindness people have shown. But she is worried that the momentum is slowing down while their costs aren't.

I've learned a few things from this episode:

1) People band together when there is a crisis, when they get extremely uncomfortable about something, and when an issue is so in their faces that they can no longer ignore it.

But also that people at large (including myself) don't do too much unless they just have to. We don't try and stop it from becoming a crisis in the first place.

2) A long-term sustainability plan is very important, especially when it comes to causes that we hold dear. It's nice to lend a helping hand when the going gets tough, but it would be nicer to help something wonderful grow, thrive and reach the potential we would like to see it reach.

3) There is a lot of things around us that are bad; a lot. That makes it difficult for us to see the "good". But also there is a lot of good, and that good needs help.

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Friendicoes still needs help. They may not be shutting down now thanks to people reaching out, but we still need to step in to ensure they don't in the near future. They are not government funded and rely fully on donations for the 1,500 animals they are currently taking care of.

Thank you donors and thank you Friendicoes. Whether it was in terms of money, time, kindness, love or prayer, you have shown us that if we look beyond what glares at us on the first few pages of the newspaper, we will see kindness and goodness actually prevailing in this city.

Click here to know how you can help

Last updated: September 14, 2015 | 18:56
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