A countrywide lockdown announced by the government to fight COVID-19 left the stray canines in distress. With resources less for even humans, it is a very critical time for these stray dogs as they are exposed to severe shortage of food.
In a unique endeavour, Indore Municipal Corporation has set up a roti bank for stray dogs that are starving. The motivating force behind it, Vandana Jain, who runs a campaign, Dogitization in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, says, “The municipal corporation has always helped us. With their help, we created a roti bank, where we make 5,000 rotis and then we distribute it through NGOs.”
Jain started Dogitization to create awareness amongst citizens of Indore to be kind and compassionate towards the street dogs. She also encouraged everyone to win the trust of the dogs and eventually send off each dog of the city to dog sterilization clinics.
Vandana and her group lovingly address each stray dog as ‘laddoo’. She says, “It’s sad that humans divided themselves in upper and lower castes, and they also created levels in animals. Godmen appeal to us to worship cows, give them roti and chaara. But no one talks that about dogs. I feel till the time ‘kutta’ word is used, people will never respect this life.”
So, in order to make people fall in love with the sweetest and most faithful living creature on earth, she promotes them as ‘laddoo’ instead of kutta (dog). “Everyone should try it. Speak to a dog on the street and call him laddoo and offer him food and you will see how the dog starts wagging its tail, it will make an instant bond with you,” she says.
{{/usCountry}}So, in order to make people fall in love with the sweetest and most faithful living creature on earth, she promotes them as ‘laddoo’ instead of kutta (dog). “Everyone should try it. Speak to a dog on the street and call him laddoo and offer him food and you will see how the dog starts wagging its tail, it will make an instant bond with you,” she says.
{{/usCountry}}In these trying times, Jain is thankful for the support she is getting from the administration. She says, “I convinced the additional SP, Maneesha Pathak Soni to allow one toast manufacturer to also make toasts for these street dogs and she granted us the permission.”
Dogitization could manage to order 1,200 kg toasts in 16 hours for hungry dogs. She says, “That goes on to show how kind this city is. Without the city’s support, we could not have done this”. We wish all the happy laddoos of Indore a healthy, happy life!