Rescued strays find new homes at ‘Adopt, Not Shop’

The two little brothers were found stranded on a street by a woman who heard them yelping in pain. When she got closer, she found that the puppies’ ears had been slashed off by some sinister children. She gave them whatever first aid she could manage and then called the city’s an animal shelter to get them proper medical aid.

Four days later, the yet to be named puppies were joyfully running around being petted by animal lovers who dropped by at The Second Floor (T2F) on Tuesday evening for animal shelter Ayesha Chundrigar Foundation’s ‘Adopt, Not Shop’ event.

“The two puppies – who are about two and half months old – were brought bleeding from the ears,” recalled ACF manager Wajiha Ahmed. “They are very friendly and are running about right now. We are really glad that they are recovering.”

This was the shelter’s first ever adoption drive. Before this, people who were interested in adopting rescued animals would come to the shelter in Malir, she added.

“We posted pictures and detailed stories [on social media] of the abused animals that were rescued and have now fully recovered,” Wajiha said.

At the adoption table, a woman shared with The News that her daughter was interested in adopting a puppy named Puppy but quietly added that she wasn’t too sure if her daughter would be able to handle it. Potential adopters have been told that it would be unfair to the animal if it is sent back to the shelter because that would leave it bewildered.

However, the young woman decided to take on the responsibility and signed the adoption form after which Puppy headed to a new home.

In order to make it easier for the visitors, the dogs were left open to move about and interact with the people, while the cats were kept in a separate netted pen so that those interested in adopting them could see through it.

The adoption procedure involved the potential adopters meeting with the animal to see if both got along. If someone decided on taking an animal home, they could fill out a form and pay a fee of Rs5,000.

As energetic and excited as the dogs were at getting so much love and attention, they did get tired after a while and went to nap on a mat kept there for them.

According to Wajiha, the response to the event had been wonderful and many animals had already been adopted and left for their new homes, although it was evident that it was hard for some of the animals to let go of their previous caretakers.

“It’s encouraging to see people adopt stray animals. I would stress on the word stray because all these animals have been rescued from the streets and are not pure breeds,” she said.

The ACF manager added that her organisation does not support the idea of breeding because there have been many instances when people had called them to take away their pets, something which was against their policy. “This entire event is to promote the idea that strays can also be as loving and as loyal as any other pure breed,” said Wajiha.

To make sure that all animals get settled in their new homes, Wajiha said that ACF teams make house visits and also ask the new owners to get the animal neutered if it’s not very young.

“We repeatedly tell adopters not to leave the animals on the streets again if they can’t handle them. They should call us instead so we may take it back to the shelter,” she said.