These good Samaritans make sure stray animals don’t go hungry

Nandita Reddy, who is residing at Palavakkam, is now feeding 167 strays in and around the neighbourhood. “We feed them homecooked food twice a day. The food will be mainly rice, vegetables and chicken. In the morning, we finish feeding the stray dogs by 8, and in the evening, we feed between 4 and 5. In the last year, we have noticed a change in the behaviour of dogs. They have become very confused with the continuous lockdown – in 2020 when the first lockdown was announced, people disappeared from the roads. And when the lockdown was eased, we reappeared. Now, with the recent lockdown, we again disappeared. What we have noticed is that stray dogs have become more friendly. We feel that the bond between humans and animals has increased. Earlier, strays were fighting to survive – now, they have access to food and also are operated, so they don’t feel the need to fight with other dogs,” says Nandita Reddy.

She points out that one of the most important things one has to do along with feeding is to do animal birth control and vaccination. “Implementing animal birth control and vaccination is equally important. Once you start feeding strays, they will begin to trust you. Then you can take animals to a vet and get them operated and vaccinated. This will make them healthier - dogs will gain weight and also the skin problems reduce. Dogs face both environmental and hormonal stress. Animal birth control and vaccination are the only way to help them ease stress along with good food,” she adds.

A resident of Velachery, Vaishali Ashok and her mother Rekha Rani has been feeding strays for the past two years. “I was feeding two stray dogs that stayed in my lane every day. Noticing this, my mother asked if I wanted to feed more dogs in the area. That’s how it all started. Now, we are feeding around 50+ dogs in the neighbourhood. Initially, we used to give milk and eggs, but our veterinarian asked us not to give milk to older dogs. We are now giving homecooked food that includes eggs, rice, chicken and veggies,” says Vaishali Ashok, a fourth-year medical student.

The youngster also shares videos of how they prepare food for dogs and cows on her social media. “After seeing one of the videos, one person send us a few boxes of eggs as a contribution. We feed the strays around 7.30-8 in the night. We take proper precautions of double masking and sanitising while stepping out to feed strays,” she adds.