GUNWANTI PARASTE

On the world pet day today, The Neutral View salutes 67-year-old Harsha Shah who has been a motherly figure to the street dogs whom she has adopted as her pets. While the people hating street dogs and shooing them away may be a common site, Shah differs from the rest.

She has been working for the past few years for the cause of street dogs and provide them food and water.

It is not uncommon site for the people to see Harsha travelling on the road with the stock of biscuits and water which she feeds to the street dogs. And if she comes across any diseased or distressed dog, she quickly picks it up and takes them to the vet.

Speaking about her love and care for the canines, Harsha says dogs are the most honest creature and they are the reason for safety for the people around them.

“We have to be always humane towards them as they are more emotional then us,” she says.

Harsha’s love for the pets is the inspiration that she received from her parents. “I learnt to love dogs only from my parents, since childhood I have seen dog love in our house, there were 2 to 3 dogs in our house. Since my childhood, there is an emotional feel about the dog, I helped to establish the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty) in Pune for Street Dog. We work for the protection of the street dog in this institution and support them,” she said.

Harsha currently has a force of 13 street dogs who are part of her family who are taken care by her and her daughter Parvati. And each dog as a name too.  Incredible, Arya, Beauty, Bhomiya, Challenge, Jhumaru, Always, Storm and View.

What is interesting is that they eat vegetarian food and are regularly provided medical check up.