The Paarijaat Trust opened their animal shelter in 2011, to counter the plight of the stray dogs they found all around them. The open space of the shelter has three kennels, an on-call veterinarian and four general care staff.
We walk around, watching the dogs watching us, and a staff member with us stops to pet a dog. The dog is Badshah, and he was found in Hauz Khas with shattered limbs {a car ran over him}. The staff member tells us how he was stuffed with injections, taken for heavy rehabilitation and can now, after much effort and money, walk again. He smiles with a little pride.
He points to another dog, who has no name, and is about three years old, and tells us he was found by a volunteer in the forest, tied to a tree and left to die. He tells us about how most shelters now solve their problems by putting down the dogs they find, and we feel like we can’t hear anymore.