Jeevdaya or compassion towards all living beings, humans and animals alike, is deeply ingrained in the majority of Gujaratis. However, there are those who are heartless enough to abandon their sick or old pets, mostly dogs, before the Diwali festival so that their vacation is not spoiled.
NGOs sheltering abandoned dogs find themselves busy ahead of the Diwali festival every year. One such NGO is the Asha Foundation in Hathijan.
Harmesh Bhatt of Asha Foundation told Mirror that just a day ago they found a Labrador from a garbage bin in Bodakdev area of the city.
He said, “A man found the dog in the garbage bin and informed me on my mobile number 9824037521. Our team reached there and brought the black Labrador, about 12 years of age, to our shelter home in Hathijan.
The dog is under treatment and will hopefully recover. Another one, a 11-year-old female German Shepherd, was abandoned by its owners as she had developed maggots. She was found roaming in the Maninagar area of the city and is under treatment.” Bhatt, who runs the shelter home for ill and abandoned animals, said many pet owners abandon their aged and ill pets because there’s no one to take care.
Thanfully, many around to adopt abandoned pets
“People call us whenever they see pets abandoned on city streets. We have six such dogs at present in our shelter home, including a seven-year-old Labrador. We take care of them until somebody adopts them. The silver lining is that there are many in Ahmedabad who readily adopt such pets,” he said.
