Are you an animal lover? Do you get overwhelmed with ‘love’ when you see a puppy and ‘sorrow’ when you see a stray dog roaming the streets hungry? Do you get grief stricken when you read about the plight of animals taken to laboratories for experimentation ?

If yes, then mere compassion doesn’t help save these animals. Sharing posts of animal welfare organizations on Facebook does create awareness to an extent but it is not enough to rescue the animals from their misery.

Here is something a true animal lover can do to help animals in distress on a personal level . There are various animal shelters in the city which provide a home to abandoned and stray animals, or animals rescued from slaughter houses and laboratories. They also provide vaccination, sterilization and free medical treatment to such animals in case of injuries. These shelters take in volunteers who are assigned the task of looking after animals for few hours as per their choice.

It is similar to working in an orphanage, blind school or an old age home. The animals that need the most love and care are the abandoned dogs who are clueless as to why there landed up there from the comfort of their houses. They wait endlessly for their owners. For these dogs, their owners are their family whom they love unconditionally.

Here are some of the animal shelters in Delhi where you can help the needy animals –

1. Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre (SGACC)

• Address: Near Shivaji College, Raja Garden, New Delhi 110027

• Contact: 011-25448062, 25447751, 25919163

• India’s oldest and Delhi’s largest all-animal shelter founded in 1980, inaugurated in 1983.

• Chairperson: Smt. Maneka Gandhi. Currently run by Ms. Ambika Shukla

• The centre houses about 2000 dogs, 300 cattle, 60 roosters, 40 ostriches, numerous donkeys, monkeys, peacocks, sheep, etc with separate facilities for puppies and adult dogs, sterilized and non-sterilized ones. Emergency facilities for cattle and dogs are available.

• Being strict promoters of vegan-ism, SGACC workers refrain from milking mother cows.

• Services: SGACC organizes numerous pup adoption camps and has a fleet of  Out Patient Department (OPDs), Operation Theatres (OT), ICUs and laboratories equipped with X-ray machine and sophisticated blood testing equipment and ultra-sound facilities. It also provides dental Care,  Gaushala and free treatment for animals brought in by people who cannot afford to pay. The service of animal cemetery is also provided.

• How the volunteers could help: Volunteers are expected to work any number of hours as per their choice between 10am to 5pm. Tasks include walking the dogs, feeding the animals, ensuring availability of drinking water at all times and organizing fund raising events to foster abused and frightened animals.
• The interested volunteers may contact Ms. Ambika Shukla at 9810054077 or visit the official website of the shelter group.      ( Click here.)

2. Friendicoes SECA

• Address: 271 & 273, Flyover Market, Defence Colony, New Delhi 110024

• Contact: 011 2431 4787

• Established on 23 April, 1979.

• Services: The group provides numerous services like Out Patient Departments, shelters , mobile equine clinics. It also runs programs like the Andaman and Nicobar spay neuter program.

• What volunteers can do:

1.  Shelter Volunteers: Walking dogs, feeding animals and providing them with water, nursing puppies and helping at the front desk. Shelter is open from 9.30am to 9.30pm. However, volunteers are preferred in the evening for about 2 to 4 hours. All volunteers above 12 years of age are welcome.
2. Fostering: One of the biggest needs is fostering of healthy Indie puppies and kittens or abandoned dogs. If you are unable to keep a pet at home but would like to take care of one temporarily, you can foster an animal from the shelter for a minimum of 2 weeks and maximum as per choice.
3. Field Volunteers: You can also help by bringing in injured or sick stray animals from your locality.

• To volunteer, please contact- Mandie Seth  (+917838585401), Geeta Seshamani (+919810000254) , Tandrali (+919818201987)  or visit the official website of Friendlicoes. (Click here.)

3. PAWS (Pet Animal Welfare Society)

• Address: C-9/7, Masudpur Market, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi – 70

• Contact: +91 11 26895737

• Non-profitable, non-government

• Founded in 1998

• Apart from animal welfare, also works towards environmental issues by discouraging use of plastic, encouraging people to plant trees and work towards preservation of wildlife.

• Creates awareness about animal laws in India.

• Services: The centre plays a pivot for numerous pup adoption camps, free anti-rabies camps, ABC (Animal Birth Control) and Immunization Program and Save our Strays (SOS).

• What volunteers can do: The volunteers can involve themselves in numerous activities like bird care-taking, dog walking, kennel hygiene maintenance, pup care taking and wildlife care assistance. They can also work as the web team assistants, photographers for adoption/ rescued animals and animal welfare rights officer etc. The volunteer visiting hours start from 1200 hours to 1700 hours.

• For the official PAWS website, click here.

Ishani Rajkhowa

[email protected]