Kathmandu, June 12
In a bid to minimise road accidents and prevent both the street animals and vehicle riders from being hurt, animal right campaigners have launched an ‘Ethical Self and Animal Safety Awareness’ initiative recently, during which they will put reflective collars on street animals so that drivers can easily locate them.
In the first phase of the initiative, more than 100 persons including students, teachers and youth participated in an event this Saturday. During the event, they put reflective collars on more than 50 cows, bulls, calves and few street dogs.
Corporate Programs Nepal The Art of Living Foundation’s facilitator Neeva M Pradhan and her team, in coordination with the Vet for Your Pet in Bhaktapur, led the first phase.
The main objective of the campaign is to bring awareness to the community about the number of animals on the street and call for help to relocate them to a safer place, according to the organisers.
The participants had gathered at the Kalimati-based Kathmandu Engineering College on Saturday morning and were divided into three teams to collar cows at different areas. Veterinary experts were mobilised in every team.
Likewise, Deputy Superintendent of Police at Kalimati-basd Metropolitan Police Circle, Pradeep Chhetri, also joined the team later and helped the participants in the initiative.
According to a survey, around 8,000 cows, calves and bulls are living on the streets in Kathmandu Valley currently whereas one out of three reported accidents on the road are caused by animals roaming around the streets.
Sharing the story behind the concept, initiator Pradhan recalled, “I once saw a stranded calf in a miserable state during my morning walk in Swayambhu area some three months ago. I felt pity. I could not sleep the whole night. Next day, I saw the calf again while walking around the area. It was all skeleton. I took it to my home and named it Ram.”
“Only if these stranded animals could speak and express their problems, but they can’t! I took the calf to my house and fed grasses. I reared him for a month. Slowly he gained weight and came back in a good shape. But, I was searching for some good shelter for Ram as I knew it needed one,” reiterated Pradhan.
“After visiting many cow shelters, I finally went to a cow shelter in Pashupati. The calf is at a shelter in Pashupati now. I go to visit him the moment I get chance. I request youth to encourage such initiative as this event is just a part of trial and error,” she added.
“Then we decided to collaborate with Vet for Your Pet team for such great concept,” she stated.
Earlier, Dr Pranav Joshi, a veterinarian, and his Vet for Your Pet team, had started to collar the cows and dogs along the six-lane road of Bhaktapur.
Likewise, after the collaring, a small concluding event was held at the College on Saturday, during which the Deputy Mayor of Lalitpur Metropolitan City, Gita Satyal, lauded the participants for their effort.
“This was simply a symbolic programme and these kinds of programmes should be organised often to minimise the road accidents. Even, Lalitpur Metropolitan City is also worried seeing the number of street cows. We get lots of complaints regarding street animals but we did not know what to do?” said Satyal, adding “Finding a good shelter for the street cows has been a huge problem. We are ready to join hands and carry forward this initiative.”
The organisers have said it is just a beginning and the second phase will begin very soon.
