Female dogs do not have their day at shelter

KOLLAM: ‘Spotty’ and ‘Asra,’  which  reached the shelter home for stray dogs at  Kottiyam about six months back, are waiting along with their female companions for an adopter. The lone shelter home  is at the receiving end as there are no takers for female dogs, which number 30 out of the total 40 there.

“We rescue wounded or sick dogs from the street to give them medications and food and their health is regained in a few days.  We keep them in hygienic shelters. Most dogs except the females are adopted by the people,” says Prof. Thankachy, who runs the shelter under the aegis of People for Animals, an NGO. The shelter was constructed with government aid, but the maintenance cost has become a  burden for Ms Thankachy, who has taken it up as a noble cause. “

Rs 15,000 is given as salary to an employee to look after the dogs and Rs 10,000 is the average monthly expense to run the shelter. It is difficult to maintain this shelter unless we get government aid,” she says.

The shelter needs arou-nd 130 kg of rice per month out of which 50 kg is donated and the rest is purchased for Rs 10 per kg,  apart from poultry waste.

She also tried sterilising the dogs to persuade the people to adopt the female dogs,  but that also did not work. “Some days, I  find  female puppies  abandoned inside my compound,” she says and adds, “these people don’t know that female dogs are the best watchdogs.”