For man's best friend

This was an evening to remember for all the pet lovers! A unique event dedicated to dogs, ‘A Cause 4 The Paws’ was organised recently to commemorate World Animal Day at Select CityWalk. It was organised in an effort to find loving homes for abandoned pets and strays too.

Select CityWalk has been supporting People For Animals (PFA) for almost three years now. The event in collaboration with the Delhi Police Dog Squad and PFA attr­acted a big crowd. The endeavour was to find homes for these abandoned dogs who were once upon, pets. Abandoned by families, they had found their way to the animal shelters but are now looking out for ‘forever’ homes! Out of 50 dogs meant for adoption only 19 could find their masters during the adoption drive. But it was a beginning made.

Maneka Gandhi, founder of PFA shared her take on the increased number of abandoned dogs by their owners. “We have Sanjay Gandhi Animal Care Centre, an all-animal shelter where pet owners come and dump their dogs after they develop some kind of health issues like being infested with maggots.

Thousands of pure breed dogs are abandoned here and we take care of them. Maximum people come at night to abandon their pets as nobody can see them and stop them from doing so. People just need to think and understand that along with keeping pets, it is also very important to take care of them and give them proper medication when they are ill and not just throw them away.”

Delhi Police Dog Show had a display of obedience, sniffing and tracking by canine sentinels. Their performance showcased extraordinary talents and intensive training of these animals. The squad consisted of about 50 dogs who had come together for this spectacular drill.

Choreography Nikolina Nikoleski showcased the importance of animals to mankind through a dance performance titled ‘Carnival of Animals.’ The dance consisted of smooth moves of a wild cat, the gallop of zebra and horse, to the flight of butterflies even as the dogs created the aura of a jungle in the front of the mall.

The adoption drive which took place post all the events also saw a nine-minute film dedicated to man’s best friend. After that a catwalk by abandoned dogs accompanied by their volunteers took place which included pedigrees, mixed breeds/Indian breeds, special dogs like paraplegic/blind/deaf/handicapped and even success stories like a walk by dogs with their proud owners.