Good Samaritans help starving stray animals during lockdown in UP's Prayagraj

PRAYAGRAJ: At a time when number of Good Samaritans in the city are helping poor and jobless labours with food and other stuff during the present crisis, there are some who have come forward to help stray dogs and other animals.
As all the restaurants, eateries and malls are closed, the crisis is pushing many of the stray animals on the verge of dying with hunger. Be it Shera, the handicapped dog living on the streets near Medical College crossing or the herds of cattle and dogs alike in civil lines area, all are facing hard times.
However, there is silver lining in the horizon in form of efforts being done by NGO, administration and individuals who have come for rescue of these animals.
“My NGO, Animal Farm’ had been doing number of activities for the stray dogs and other cattle since 2008 but now situation is unprecedented and challenging, earlier it was only ailing dogs and cattle which needed our attention but now every locality is full of such hungry animals for whom there are limited hands”, said Dr Ayush Gupta, prosthetist and orthotist at MLN Medical college of the city.
Ayush and his team of around Nine volunteers are feeding stray cattles in different localities of the city everyday since the lockdown began.
“One can gauze the situation by the fact that not only the dogs but even cows and goats fight among themselves to eat padigree that I provide”, said Ayush who takes care of cattles in Civil Lines locality once a day. Other volunteers of our team collect the leftover in their respective localities and provide the same to the stray animals, he added.
Likewise, a group of residents have also formed a “roti bank” for stray animals in Muthiganj area. They have put up a placard at a checkpoint urging people to donate eatables for animals.
Along with this individual efforts, even the animal husbandry department of Prayagraj Nagar Nigam has started their efforts, thanks to the initiative of the veterinary officer, Dr Dheeraj Goel.
“Couple of days back, I found the dogs in my locality starving with hunger and I gave them food, but later I noticed that this is the problem of several localities, especially the one which are commercial hubs and I started feeding number of dogs, in different localities, with biscuits”, said Dr Goel.
Now, I have decided to collect 50kilogram of wheat flour every day and have roped in support from volunteers like Vanshika who will help us with Roti and the same would be fed to not only dogs but even cattles, he said.
In the present situation, although stray dogs are somehow surviving, it is the cows and goats which are starving.
“On March 28, I found a dead cow at Medical college crossing and called the Nagar Nigam to collect the corpse but the incident has shaken me and now I have started collecting the green fodder from the vegetable markets of the city and offering the same to the stray cows of different localities of the city”, said Sandeep Yadav, a student leader of Allahabad University.