When Bowman and Bailey took the stage to receive an award for their dedication to animal welfare, they carried with them a spotlight that profiles activists who have dedicated their lives to animal welfare. These heroes were recently celebrated at the #iamstrongest Awards by Sharon Ply at Savera Hotel. We unearth their stories, and how their daily work creates incremental change.
joseph secer
Every day at 6 a.m., Joseph Secker has been feeding wild parrots from his terrace for nearly 25 years. He wakes up at 4 in the morning and cooks 75 kg of rice. Then he prepares the roof of his house, and lays planks and rice. Parrots start coming inside by filtering, hanging on the wires and standing on the planks. Soon the terrace fills up.
Joseph is taking care of a parrot. Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Sekar says he gets thousands of birds a day, whose numbers go up to 4,000 during the monsoon. He spends up to 40 percent of his income feeding these birds, and he has no regrets. “We are not taking anything with us when we die,” he says, explaining why he does this every day.
Prabha Venugopal
“Dogs, hospitals, cases, abuse,” says Prabha Venugopal. “That’s how my days go by.” Prabha was Professor of Accounting in Oman for 15 years. She returned for her children’s education, then stayed for the dogs.
Working with animals for 11 years means that Prabha also spends a lot of time at the police station. “I go there a lot to handle animal abandonment cases,” she says, adding that she deals with a large number of abandoned pedigree dogs. She also focuses on sheltering and vaccinating abandoned puppies, and is currently caring for over 40.
Prabha takes care of a dog. Photo Credit: Akhila Easwaran
Prabha rescues at least five dogs every day, many of whom are injured. One of her biggest challenges, she says, is finding the clinic late at night. “Having a 24-hour veterinary clinic is extremely important,” she adds.
Anjali Sharma
Anjali Sharma thinks in numbers. Each vaccine is ₹500, surgery for sterilization is ₹3000 and after almost 30 years of caring for community dogs in the city, Anjali knows this money needs to be raised to support her work.
Anjali at work | Photo credits: R. Raveendran
With over 30 dogs living in her household, Anjali believes that sterilization is one of the most important ways to improve the lives of street animals as well as reduce animal-human conflict. Therefore, she is on a constant mission to castrate, and encourage animal eaters to do the same. She says, “Even a dog left behind will be ten the next year and forty the year after that.”
To the rescue of his 30 children? She says, he has a lot of work, but also make sure that whenever he returns home, he gets the best welcome in the world.
Shravan Krishnan
Shravan Krishnan began his journey as a volunteer at the Madras Crocodile Bank, and came into limelight during the Chennai floods when he and his team responded to calls for help from across the city to rescue dogs, birds and lots of snakes. responded to. Currently, Shravan works and helps run the Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary (BMAD), an NGO that functions as an animal hospital and shelter. It provides veterinary services at an affordable cost, making expensive animal care accessible. “Street animals are treated free of cost and domesticated animals are treated for a nominal fee,” says Shravan. BMAD sees 80 to 100 cases per day, and is currently hosting around 250 animals. Shravan also joins the forest department in rescuing animals across the city.
Shravan with dear friend. , Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Padma Balasubramaniam and VP Balasubramaniam
Padma Balasubramaniam and her husband, VP Balasubramaniam, began their work with a simple question: Why not? The couple feeds 20-25 dogs living in their street. They cook a balanced meal of rice, meat and vegetables and distribute it to the dogs every evening. Balasubramaniam avoids traveling so that the dogs do not miss a day’s food. The couple have been working for almost 25 years, but have only recently begun to take a more active role.
VP Balasubramaniam feeding stray dogs | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Like most other activists, he is concerned about castration of stray animals. Preventing overpopulation will give existing dogs a chance for a better life. It’s a relentless uphill climb, but according to Padma, “we just love dogs, and nothing will stop us.”