Care for Paws- Reaching out to the Voiceless

With Obhoyaronno Animal Welfare Organisation leading the way, many people around the country are increasingly influenced and inspired to save and help animals. With the objective of not only spreading and rehabilitating animals but also spread awareness, Saima Feyruz and Farhana H Chowdhury, two animal welfare activists, launched Care for Paws (CFP) Animal Welfare Organisation on December 5, 2015, Saturday, at the Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), to start their journey to deliver a non-pro­fitable operation within Dhaka as a pilot project. 

“We had to change the date and time. It was supposed to be held earlier but because of all the obstacles we had to face, we had to delay the event a little. But still, a lot of people attended the event to show support, and at least 100 animals were vaccinated during the vaccination drive, prior to the launching event!” says Saima Feyruz, a co-founder of CFP.

The Honourable Vice-Chancellor, Prof Md Shadat Ulla, SAU had graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. Prof Dr Md Shahidur Rashid Bhuiyan, Pro-Vice Chancellor, SAU, Prof Dr Md Hazrat Ali, Treasurer, SAU, Ishtiaq Uddin Ahmad, Prof Dr Anwarul Haque Beg, Director, SAURES & Ex-Dean, FASVM, SAU, Chairperson Prof Dr Md Mufazzal Hossain, Dean, FASVM, SAU, and Dr K B M Saiful Islam, Chairman, Dept. of Medicine & Public Health, SAU were also present at the event. Agriculturist and television personality Shaykh Seraj and Mayor of NDCC Anisul Huq were both present at the vaccination drive.

CFP began as a brainchild of Saima Feyruz, and Farhana H Choudhury. “We work together with a tightly-nit rescue team, which makes up the core members of CFP. Currently we are crowd-funded, but we're hoping to establish ourselves as an NGO in the near future with su­fficient and sustainable funds for our rescue operations,” says Saima Feyruz. “We are in the process of attaining special facilities for our operations, and around 33 students of veterinary school have already asked to join our organisation after their graduation!”

CFP, even prior to launching, faced a lot of struggle and objection. “The first question people ask us is 'why animals, why not humans'- they don't think about the fact that no matter how underprivileged, no matter how hungry, no matter how tormented, a human being has the ability to ask for help. An animal does not. The amount of abuse they face daily from human beings is appalling,” says Saima, “Just the day before the event, a rescue died because of the amount of abuse he had gone through from a human being. The day after the event, we dropped a rehabilitated rescue off to his habitat- in front of Bangabandhu's house- and one of the guards, as soon as the pup was dropped, hit and broke its face with a rifle! What kind of 'superior beings' are we if we don't have any compassion towards the voiceless? How are we 'superior' if we don't protect them or fulfil our duties towards them?”

CFP's prime focus is to make the power relations between human and non-human animals visible to start a process of love and empathy towards defenceless and less fortunate animals on the street, and create nurturing relations between human and non-human animals. Besides other problems, their activities are aimed to help reduce brutality against street animals and help change the violent mindset of the current society towards non-human animals. “We like to develop an entity with professional veterinarians to operate an intervention program. We get the maximum amount veterinary help from Dr KBM Saiful Islam, of Sher e Bangla Agricultural University. He helps treat our stray cases with utmost care and selflessness,” says Farhana H Choudhury, one of the co-founders of CFP.

Even though human beings have proved to be absolutely vile against animals here, there are some people who still give us hope for a better and kinder Bangladesh. “We have a five year plan ahead of us, focusing on Dhaka city dwellers. We have trained and dedicated volunteers, a brilliant rescue team and also paramedics. We are doing awareness campaigns; on the other hand there is Rubaiya Ahmad and Obhoyaronno doing similar work for animals. If we all do our duties as humans, if we all can just feed one stray, help an animal get warmth during winter, provide shelter, or at least let them live peacefully in their community- even that is a lot. Together, I think we can all work towards a cruelty-free Bangladesh.”

If you have any known case of an abused animal or would like to help the organisation in any way, please email them at [email protected] or visit their Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/groups/careforpaws.