‘Build network for animal welfare’

The Blue Cross Society Pune organised a workshop on Effective Animal Activism Saturday to commemorate the Animal Welfare Fortnight.

Animal activists Varda Mehrotra from the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisation (FIAPO) and Abodh Aras from the Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD), Mumbai conducted the session that focused on building networks of volunteers for animal welfare.

The sessions were followed by a panel discussion with panelists from Pune. Animal welfare official Supriya Bose spoke about laws to prevent animal abuse. "We need to uphold laws to prevent cruelty to animals," Bose said. She made the attendees aware of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Law of 1963, which prevents abuse of animals in circus and slaughterhouses and even pets.

Sushma Date, a community activist, discussed the need of controlling stray dog population. "The only humane way of controlling population is by sterilising dogs," Date said.

She also explained the logistics of this drive. Ayesha Gandhi and Dr. Bharat from ResQ also spoke about the need of networking and how the trust treats animals on the street without taking them to the hospital.

Mehrotra explained the importance of co-operation in the area of welfare of animals. Aras, in a session named 'Lessons in Learning' talked about how he built the network of volunteers and sponsors for WSD.

"This is an awareness drive by Blue Cross Society which also established the Sunanda Das Memorial Hospital," said Anjali Malaney, a member of the board.

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