Creature comfort

Animals Matter To Me (AMTM) was set up in 2010 to provide medical help, food and shelter to stray, abandoned and mistreated animals. Its rehabilitation centre in Malad in Mumbai houses more than 300 animals, including dogs, cats, birds and goats. The organisation's focus area is sterilisation and vaccination programmes for strays, but it also handles critical medical cases. AMTM conducts animal sensitisation programmes in municipal and private schools and is setting up a 17-acre sanctuary in Kolad in Maharashtra to provide refuge to around 1,500 old and disabled animals.

People for the Respect and Care of Animals (PRCA) is a charitable trust that runs Chhaya, an animal hospital and shelter, around 20km from Kolkata. Set up in 2008, Chhaya is home at any given time to about 200 animals, the majority of them dogs. The shelter takes injured animals and provides a space for them to recover. It also runs a neutering programme under which some 9,800 animals have been spayed or neutered. Chhaya has trained about 30 young men as caregivers to help local villagers with injections and saline drips for their animals and to assist in the births of goats and cows.

Human-wildlife conflict is common in villages close to the Bor Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra. Farmers are particularly affected when their crops get destroyed by wild animals. The team at People For Animals (PFA) works towards minimising such conflicts. The team helps educate farmers about techniques to protect crops without hurting wild animals. This has led to a significant reduction in the damage of crops by wildlife. PFA also spearheads the formation of Vanyajiv Mitra Mandals, teams that build awareness among villagers about the importance of wildlife and work with forest officers in conflict situations. Additionally, it works to create safer livelihood opportunities for villagers, who are at risk every time they enter the reserve to procure forest produce.

World For All (WFA) is a Mumbai-based organisation that focuses on the rescue and adoption of stray animals, especially infant, old or disabled dogs and cats. Since 2010, WFA has facilitated the adoption of more than 7,500 Indian-breed puppies and kittens. The organisation relies on social media and word of mouth to find homes for its rescued animals and it works with stray animals through sterilisation, care and vaccination programmes. Through its cat sterilisation programme — Happy Mews — WFA spays at least 100 cats every month and it also has a facility for dog rescues and sterilisation. WFA runs Teach Co-Exist — an awareness programme in schools to sensitise children about strays. The WFA office is always home to a bevy of lively puppies and kittens, all jousting for their share of attention.

The Indian Herpetological Society (IHS) was set up in 1986 and it has since then rescued and rehabilitated nearly 2,000 wild animals, including reptiles (snakes, crocodiles, turtles); mammals (leopards, monkeys, sambar, hyenas); and protected birds. The Society works in the areas of education, research and conservation and it also runs the Pune Snake Park and the Wild Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre. IHS is involved with local communities — whose traditional livelihood activities depend on wildlife but are deemed illegal — in livelihood training.

Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) is a Mumbai-based organisation that was set up in 1985 to help street dogs. It works to eradicate rabies and control the street dog population through mass sterilisation programmes, and to get abandoned pets and strays adopted. WSD, which follows the World Health Organisation's recommendations on rabies eradication and dog population control, has helped more than 170,000 street dogs and cats since its inception. WSD pioneered the adoption of street dogs through its 'adopt a street dog' campaign in 2000.