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Having witnessed a dog being brutally killed with its head stung with iron rods between the grills of a gate at a very young age, Geetha—an ardent animal lover—found her motivation to undertake a journey towards helping animals. As a child, she used to feed them biscuits and buns on her way to school; as an adolescent—and later adult—she would volunteer at various shelters with the intent of rescuing as many animals as she could.
Aware though she was of the condition of the streeties in India, the reality of the matter hit her when, in 2014, she found a dog hit by a vehicle lying half-dead in a dirty garbage puddle. Passersby refused help to even carry the dog to an auto-rickshaw. Not only were the animals suffering and in pain, getting help for them when injured was also a herculean task.
What started off as feeding and treating two dogs in the locality of JP Nagar, has now become 200+ dogs that she ensures are fed and cared for through rain or shine, in sickness or in health. Over and above this, she rescues and also ensures that any and all the streeties in the area are vaccinated and sterilized (in all these years as many as 500+ so far).
Along the course of this, she found nine pups and two adult dogs abandoned one after the other in and around the same area. Unable to ignore their suffering she took them to a junkyard and hand-raised them all there. In time, owing to major infrastructure changes, these dogs found themselves cast out of the only place they could call home and abused—one dog had been poisoned and another, hit on the head by a taxi driver, killing it on the spot. In her quest to save them, Geetha managed to rent half an acre of land that had all the basic facilities needed to care for the dogs through a kind family that had adopted a dog from her.
On August 8, 2018, Geetha registered a Trust named Sharanaksh (Sharanam (Shelter) + Raksha(Protection)) (Amended in July 2019) along with her mother Saraswathi Pratap, and uncle (Gopinath M). She broke her last piece of FD to start this organization. In 2019 April, once the fencing was completed, on 17 April 2019 she shifted 8 of those dogs that had no place. Now there are 53 dogs that are given utmost care at the shelter. For over a year Geetha has taken care without donations or any substantial help. The shelter officially opened on January 5th, 2020 to the public, named COMMUNITY STREETIES INDIA, wherein they are open to taking in dogs for rehabilitation.
However, because of the lack of medical resources and transportation, it does get difficult to take in cases that are critical or need any medical follow-ups.
The vision of CSI is to help protect, rescue, shelter and rehabilitate the needy animals in an environment that is fun, happy and a peaceful place for them to recover. CSI also aims to raise awareness among people about the need and importance to co-exist and knowing these animals are part of our community. It is every person’s responsibility to take care of them to build a better, and compassionate community. CSI is located in Devanahalli (Avathi), 15 mins from Bangalore International Airport which comes under Rural Karnataka.
Owing to a lack of resources, they are unable to rescue and rehabilitate critical cases. Being so far outside the city, getting urgent veterinary assistance becomes a challenge. The need of the hour would be to set up medical assistance within the shelter space and a vehicle that will help transport injured, abandoned and sick animals to and from the shelter.
The shelter has a family that looks after the daily needs of the dogs, such as food, walking, bathing as well as cleaning the shelter. There are 8 CCTV cameras that monitor the day to day activities, and water and electricity. 98% of these expenses along with the feeding, treatment, sterilizations, and vaccinations of the 31 at the shelter and the 105 on the road are all taken care of by Geetha. She currently spends more than 1.25 lakh rupees a month out of her pocket to ensure all these animals under her care are well taken care of.
She needs your love and support to set up
•An in-house medical unit with medical supplies (Approx Rs 2.5-3 Lakhs for a 10x20 pre-done medical unit with doctors table and chairs, examination table, etc. (Estimate provided)
•purchase a transport vehicle (ambulance) and to support the driver's salary, approx. Rs. 5 lakhs with basic modification done for rescues.
•partitions/kennels to separate medical cases and healthy/abandoned dogs, Rs 60,000-70,000
•build soft flooring for paralyzed and old dogs approx Rs 80,000 - 1 lakh and
•connecting at least 5 more CCTV cameras to cover areas of the shelter that are currently not under surveillance radar. approx Rs 50,000 - 60,000
•UPS for continuous running of power (approx Rs 70,000 - 80,000)
We believe every drop counts and your contribution will go a long way in saving lives that need us. These animals can’t speak for themselves and we wish to be their voice and make a bigger impact in creating a better and safer haven for them in the years ahead. Please Help us help them.
Your generous contributions would surely help us in extending the best possible care to those animals that need us the most.
