A sunny Sunday with furry friends

As a prelude to ‘Phone Pe Bengaluru Midnight Marathon’ scheduled on December 8 in KTPO, Whitefield, Rotary Bangalore IT Corridor organised the ninth-edition of ‘Pet-a-thon 2018’ yesterday at ‘The Weekend Dog Park’, in Cubbon Park.

The event, which was an awareness and fund-raising initiative saw as many as XXXX number of dogs. This year’s ‘Pet-a- thon’ was significant as it had 30-40% of rescued and Indie dogs, and also focused on the differently-abled dogs.

“We raise money through donation and give it to our charity partner who can in return help dogs in need with shelter or to individuals who do their bit for animal welfare. Over the years, we have definitely seen a conscious effort that people put in to adopt rescued dogs. Through ‘Pet-a-thon’ we promote ‘adopt, don’t shop’,” says Hema Srinivas, organiser of the event.

The Cubbon Park Canines (ACJ Memorial Initiative) is partnering with the Pet-a-thon as their official charity partners this year.

Priya Chetty-Rajgopal, the founder of the ‘Cubbon Park Canines’, says, “It has been five years since we have been giving away the ‘ACJ Memorial Award’; it is to recognise individuals who have done the most amount of work for rescue. We have also initiated campaigns like ‘Not without my dog’ and ‘Ban online pet sales’. Our idea is to promote advocacy and get more people on board to do the right thing for animals. The support that we have got from Bengalureans is fantastic.”

Finnie, a visually impaired dog, lost her eyes following an unforeseen incident and was by pet parent Saujanya. “She used to be a happy dog, and I had special attention on her. One morning, I found her sitting in the compound and she looked up when I called her. I saw blood oozing out from her eye. I knew something was wrong and I immediately took her to the vet, who suggested Tony Freer’s name, the founder and trustee of ‘Haven Animal Welfare Trust’. Since then, Finnie is with him in his shelter home,” she says.

The event also saw a BBMP licensing drive, stalls by ‘CUPA’ for free vet checkups, subsidised vaccinations at Rs 300 for Indies and at Rs 600 for breed dogs. They also promoted adoptions and canine blood donations; ‘Care’ raised awareness on Animal welfare and adoption of differently abled dogs.