No dog goes hungry, thanks to youth

Madanapalle group resolves to take care of stray dogs

The lockdown has led to a new resolve among a group of youth in Madanapalle to protect stray dogs and also make the town free of unhealthy and rabid canines. The group now feeds about 200 dogs, mostly dependent on bus stand areas, hotels and function halls.

Pranay Kumar (25), an entrepreneur, has been running the All People Students’ Unity Force since 2017, which has now close to 1,200 members in Madanapalle, Tirupati, Punganur and Mulakala Cheruvu mandals of the district.

Though the prime objective of the organisation is to focus on the educational needs of the poor and downtrodden students, the services soon expanded into voluntary activities during natural calamities. The COVID-19 pandemic once again made the group active, providing food to stranded people and destitutes, apart from spreading awareness on the COVID guidelines.

A week after the Lockdown 1.0 came into effect, Pranay and his friends were busy distributing food packets to a group of migrant workers at Bengaluru bus-stand in Madanapalle. While returning home, the youth saw a lactating dog and its five puppies circling an empty dustbin and moaning in hunger.

“We noticed that the street dogs depending on public places, hotels and function halls were the worst hit. When they try to enter residential areas, the local dogs chase them away. They face starvation. We purchased some bread packets from a medical shop and fed the dog and its puppies. It was a great moment,” Mr. Pranay said.

A 40-member group sat together and chalked out an action plan. Since April 1, not a single dog in Madanapalle town has gone hungry.

“We are providing rice cooked with milk to all of them. Four teams are formed to cover all dogs in entire town between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. When a stray dog gets our affection, it would no longer be a stray one. It is part of our lifestyle,” he said.

In coordination with the municipal authorities and nature lovers, the group now wants to raise the health standards of canines, which include rabies vaccination and birth control measures.

“We plan to have a proper distribution of food in healthy environs to all the canines with surplus food from hotels once they start functioning. Stray dogs are more prone to contract rabies under unclean conditions in our region and the number of dog-bites too is high every year,” he said.