On the occasion of World Animal Day, a new non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Chandigarh announced ‘Operation Mowgli Aid’. The NGO, which will be formally inaugurated on October 24, 2020, provides an ambulance for immediate care of wounded animals and also aims to assist animal shelters, foster homes, medical facilities, local NGOs as well as the administration.
Vice-president of the organisation, Aman Sethi, said, “The animal ambulance project at Mowgli Aid is to help the animals in distress and our services are completely free. With a team of experts from different fields, we would like to stand for the rights of animals. Each day, around 4-5 critical cases arrive and as soon as we get fully operational, we will be able to rescue 10 to 15 animals per day.”
Story behind the initiative
Talking about how the organisation came into place, Karan Vir, general secretary, said, “We were a group of people volunteering to feed the animals during the lockdown and covered around 900 animals a day. When you go all around the tricity, you come across many animals and people also start contacting you. As the movement slowly grew, we started rescuing injured animals in far off areas that were not easy to access.”
“We can manage small animals and think of carrying them in our own vehicle, but this is not always possible. Especially in the case of a large animal, we felt helpless. Thinking about it, it’s 2020 and still there is no ambulance dedicated to animals,” he said.
‘The coordination lacks’
“People are willing to sponsor the treatment and the first aid is also available. What lacks is the coordination in between. There is a desperate need for a transportation mechanism that can take the animal to a hospital in time. That is when we realised that we need a vehicle and also a lever or a similar machinery to lift the animal,” said Karan.
Reason
behind the organisation’s name
Talking about the name of the organisation, Karan said, “We
want to inspire younger generations and change their mindsets towards animals.
When you mention a cartoon character, it becomes easier to communicate and bond
with them. This way you can make them feel concernedfor theanimals and get
them used to the idea of animal welfare. We would love to involve the kids in
an interesting and responsible manner.”
Mowgli Aid operation has started a fundraiser where people are coming together to support this endeavour by raising funds which will help them to operate the ambulance. You can check out the link below:
