Doggie’s day out

BENGALURU: Pets are a great source of comfort, but people who come down with Covid-19 - in some cases entire families - are often barely able to look after themselves, leaving their pets wanting for care. Several people have come forward to fill this need, and look after the pets of strangers in the city. Since April 28, pet trainer Bernard Shannu, who lives in Jalahalli, has been taking care of a St Bernard belonging to an elderly woman who tested positive. “Apart from this, a lot of people call me to walk their dogs as they cannot step out,” says Shannu, who quit a lucrative corporate job to become a pet trainer.

The people requesting help leash their pets outside their houses and he picks them up. “I’m not charging anything for looking after the St Bernard, except for the food and medicine. As for dog walking, I only charge fuel expenses if the house is far away. If its close by, I take my bicycle,” the 35-yearold says. Rekha Vijaykumar from Yelahanka is fostering cats whose owners are down with Covid.

“I have two cats whose parents are in hospital with Covid, and a disabled cat whose owner who could not travel back to Bengaluru from Kerala due to the disease,” she says. Vijaykumar also feeds strays who barely get any food due to the lockdown. “So I cook rice and chicken and feed them once a day,” she says. A number of animals across the country end up being abandoned if their owners pass away due to Covid. Many of them end up on the streets, mentally affected by their sudden homelessness.

To try and reduce the chances of this happening, Voice of Stray Dogs, a pan-India organisation, has been making efforts to get such animals adopted. “Pets are affected by the deaths of their owners and extended family might not be in a position to look after them. That’s why we came up with this programme. Currently, we are in an initial stage, wherein caregivers can call and follow up on the adoption process. But due to lockdown, it is taking a little time,” says Rakesh Shukla, founder of the organisation. Around 20-30 per cent of inquiries for pet adoption are from Bengaluru.