Hello all, I am Vikas Bafna. I am an animal rescuer and welfare worker in Bengaluru.

For the last 5 years, rescuing animals in distress has been my full-time occupation. In May 2020 I started the Friend For Animal Trust. 

I am involved in animal rescue, treatment, ABC and stray animals feeding. While the majority of my rescues are dogs, I have also rescued cats, cows, monkeys, horses, donkeys, rabbits, birds and snakes.

My Work
24/7 I receive calls and messages from people across the city asking me to help animals they see hurt in accidents, alive and lying on the roads or by lanes, animals that are abused and abandoned, or extremely sick and helpless in some corner of this city, or trapped in some gutter/construction/abandoned site crying for help or suffering in silence.

I receive about 10 to 20 calls per day asking for rescues from all parts of the city. Unfortunately, I am able to take on only 2 to 3 rescues per day depending on the distance and complexity of the rescue. Currently, I am able to do rescues only within a radius of 10 to 12 kms from Frazer Town.

The compassion of the reporters makes them reach out to me to help these animals. Sadly reporters often do not follow up with support for any of these rescue activities. Every rescue requires transportation, medical treatment and rehabilitation. There is an expense attached to every step in the rescue process.

Rescue and Medical Treatment
For transporting an animal, I use my Maruti Omni van and depending on the complexity of the rescue operation I take one or two helpers. Sometimes I go alone to save expense.
 
For medical treatment, I take the animals to NGO veterinary hospitals. Wherever possible I try to get the animal treated on-site.

Depending on the severity of a rescue case, the expense typically ranges from Rs. 4,000/- to 15,000/-.

These slides show a few of the cases I handled in the last 6 months.

Rehabilitation
Post recovery I transport the animal back to the original location. In cases where an animal is no longer able to survive independently on the streets, I place them in animal shelters. At present, I have about 20 rescues living in various shelters and I make monthly contributions to help these shelters with the expense of looking after them.

These are some of my rescues currently residing in shelters.

Feeding and ABC/ARV Drive
I feed about 300 street dogs starting from Frazer Town to the Palace grounds area. I get these dogs sterilized and vaccinated.

In addition, I look after 28 dogs that have been abandoned by people in the Queens Road Veterinary Hospital grounds.

I volunteer with the city’s BBMP ABC/ARV team. I am often called by people to help capture street dogs in their locality for sterilization.

My Appeal
I cover my expenses from my own pocket, with my family’s help, and a few kind donors.
I feel pained and frustrated that I am unable to do more rescues due to resource and expense constraints.

I am appealing for funds to buy one more second-hand Maruti Omni van, expand my rescue team and cover more medical expenses.
Your donation however small matters to my work and all the animals waiting to be helped. Please donate and also share this appeal with your family, friends, and colleagues.

Thank You!