A plug for Friendicoes

From Manjula Padmanabhan’s blog, a post about a Friendicoes rescue – a reminder that there are scattered pinpricks of light in the unfathomably dark and lonely universe of uncared-for animals.

I’ve only interacted with Friendicoes a few times, but each of those encounters has been very positive. The first set of vaccinations for the litter of pups that Foxie belonged to was done by them. Shortly after we adopted Foxie, we decided that her mother Rani and older sister Nanno (from an earlier litter) had to be spayed, otherwise generations of pups would be starving or getting run over by cars near our house in the years to come. So we called Friendicoes to pick up the two dogs for the operation. Shankar, the watchman who had been looking after them, was very reluctant to let the ambulance take them away – he feared they’d take the easy way out and put them down – but four days later I received a call from the ambulance driver, who was on his way back to Saket with Rani and Nanno in the back-seat. I rushed across, took charge of them; they were composed, in good health, very happy to be back, and their reunion with Shankar was one of the most joyous things I've seen.

Foxie has been in poor health for the last few months and we’ve been consulting the Friendicoes doctor, among others. A few days ago we had to show him some X-rays and get a couple of prescriptions written out, so we visited their office near the Defence Colony flyover market, and a friend who does volunteer work there showed us around the shelter where injured dogs, cats, monkeys and birds are housed. It was obvious that space and resources were limited, but also that these people are doing the best they can.

Friendicoes rescues abandoned animals – animals that were taken in as pets on a whim by people who had no idea what a big responsibility this is (I’d venture to suggest that these are the sorts of people who have rarely had to think too deeply about anything for most of their lives), and who “discovered” within a few days that the little things make too much noise for their liking, or are too messy. The result: boundlessly loving creatures dumped on the roads by the only family they knew. The city shelter has dozens of these uncomprehending victims of human cruelty – animals who are so starved for affection that their bodies quiver in delighted gratitude when you so much as reach out and touch them inside their cages.

Needless to say, they need whatever help they can get from animal-lovers, so anyone who’s interested, please do weigh in. Cash and cheque donations are welcome, of course, but even visiting the shelter once in a while with a supply of biscuits or rice helps enormously. Their website has details.

[An earlier post about cruelty to animals here]