HYDERABAD: About four years ago, while taking a walk in the neighbourhood, Lakshman Molleti’s eyes caught a heart-rending image. It was of a mother dog and her pups drinking water from a dirty puddle. Disturbed by it, he soon started keeping a bowl of clean water for dogs in his area.
Over the next few days, the software engineer’s small gesture had started attracting not just dogs but other animals too. Inspired by it, Lakshman decided to take on a bigger project — of distributing water bowls to people who are interested in helping animals that struggle to find clean drinking water in the city. “Many animals and birds do not find a source of clean drinking water, and this eventually leads to various health challenges such as dehydration, skin infections, fever and viral infections and even death. After what I experienced, I had this urge to not only help more and more animals but also educate people about the importance of providing clean water,” said Lakshman.
It is this aim — to reach a larger audience — that led the software engineer to start the Animals Water Bowl Project. The objective is to ensure that every stray animal in the city has access to clean drinking water round-the-clock, throughout the year. “I distribute water bowls to people who are truly interested in it. Just placing the water bowls in front of our apartment complexes and in the neighbourhood will not fulfil the purpose. One needs to refill these bowls every day and clean them once a week,” said Lakshman.
Apart from cleaning and monitoring the water bowl, one of the rules people must agree to when they request for a water bowl is that they must share pictures and videos of it at least every 15 days. “This will tell us if the water bowls that we are distributing are really helping the animals or not,” he said.
The sturdy cement bowls with a smooth finish and ‘Water for Animals’ painted on them has a capacity of six litres and weighs about 10 kg each. Lakshman has been dipping into his savings since 2017 when he started the distribution programme in Hyderabad and has now expanded it to Pune, Thane and Visakhapatnam.