As people are increasingly preferring to adopt pets, Riya Sharma finds out that adoption has become the new cool. For some, it is a status symbol and some adopt for the sheer love for animals
It was a chilly night when Bruno with his four brothers was born in a dim-light at the corner of a street. By the grace of a kind-hearted couple, Bruno and his brothers were able to get a hold of a torn blanket and bread crumbs for their mother. The next day, two of them died because of the freezing temperature and Bruno along with his two brothers were taken in an enclosed van. He never saw his mother again.
Few weeks later, he got a new home and new family members who considered him as their own and where he was the master of his own world. This little bundle of joy was possible due to the efforts done by medical homes for pets that make sure that all the stray dogs or abandoned ones get a safe and sound shelter.
To have a companion at a lonely home or a buddy who is selfless and who would never complain or whether it is a sheer love for animals, people buy pets for many reasons. Though it has never been an easy decision to buy a new pet, different people have their different apprehensions while buying a little one.
But with the increase in stray dogs and the increasing sensibility that it is inhuman to detach a pet from their mother, medical centers and shelter homes for dogs have started to encourage the process of adopting a pet rather than buying a new one. “Earlier, people consider it a trend and a status symbol to buy a new pedigree dog, or a German shepherd. Now, they think it is part of their charitable work to adopt a pet,” said Shilpa Choudhary, assistant at People for Animals.
She added that if the mother of a pet dies, they carry the little ones in a jute bag and bring them to the hospital. If they have any illness, they treat them and then raise them for adoption. When a pet is brought to a hospital, they live with other pets. They accommodate to the environment around them and thus, it takes them as long as one month to adjust in a new family. Choudhary shared, “People who are willing to adopt, we make them sign a document with our terms and conditions. It is advisable not to leave a pet alone at least for a month. Also a pet, specially a newly adopted one, needs a constant companion. Either a family member or another pet should always be around.”
A pet is like a small kid who needs attention and care like any other small child. That’s why, People for Animals makes sure that the pet goes in right hands. “We keep a check on the pet post-adoption. We send our volunteers to their homes and sometimes ask them to put a picture of the pet on Facebook as well,” she told.
And its not just dogs but cats, kittens and even rabbits are also being adopted by families.
Priya from Friendicoes had a different story to tell altogether. She shared, “In a country like ours, people are extremely skeptical about adopting a pet. There are only a few who adopt for the sake of love for animals. A lot of times, they prefer to buy a purebred like a pug or labrador than adopt an indie-puppy.”She added that those who are willing to adopt an indie-puppy are rather those who belong to an upper-class. For them, it is not an issue to adopt an Indian dog as they already have purebred dogs at home. Middle class families on the other hand, are still of the view where they still prefer to buy a purebred dog.
Sharing a similar incident, she told us that a volunteer at Friendicoes wanted to adopt a pet. But she (volunteer) insisted on adopting only a labrador. “You see the differenceIJ If people working with us are of this mentality, then how can we expect others to understandIJ” she said.
Taking a step ahead in the process of adoption, the company allows you to take a pet home to see whether they are comfortable with you and you with them. “It is necessary for a family as well as a pet to be comfortable with each other. We don’t want them to adopt a pet first and then abandon it,” she shared.
There is another pet care organisation mostly working online if one wishes to go for an adoption. “We have our website and those who wish to adopt a pet can register online. Depending on the availability of a pet in a locality, we arrange an adoption meeting. In the website, people can select the breed and also whether they want a fostered pet or a rescued one,” said Abin from Dogspot.
He added that there are a lot of reasons why a family, rather than just abandoning, prefers to make their pets available as foster pets. “There are times when a family is either moving abroad or are going on an extended vacation, hence they put their pets at foster homes. Financial reasons also play a major role for putting their pets for adoption,” he said.
No fee is involved while adopting a pet but he told us that they ask for basic sterilisation charges from the family before adopting a pet.
He added, “We work with a lot of NGOs who help in rescuing these pets, and once a person signs up for an adoption process, we ask these NGOs to inform us about the availability of a pet in a particular area.”
After signing up, a family can expect a call from Dogspot and after cross-checking the environment of the home where the pet (they only have dogs and cats) is going to live in, the team at Dogspot accepts or rejects any application.