Surabhi Sharma — Roorkee Cares

On the occasion of Animal Rights Awareness Week, we bring to you yet another heartwarming story of our beloved four-legged inhabitants of R-land.

“Stray dogs have been an integral part of the Roorkee family since forever, roaming around unnoticed, uncared for and at times even being victims of human abuse and cruelty. It was in 2017 when an MArch student, Gargi Thakur alongwith Prof Gargi Singh laid the foundation of ‘Roorkee Cares’ after being pained to see such condition of the dogs in campus.

Roorkee Cares is a student body, run and funded by students and faculty members, which takes care of our canine friends. I wasn’t much of a dog-lover until 2018, when I took a severely injured dog to the hospital, but couldn’t save him. This incident shook my soul and motivated me to join this initiative, and since then, there was no looking back.

This journey has been a roller coaster ride not just for the volunteers but the dogs as well with the situation worsening during the pandemic. It’s very saddening to see only one or two out of about 12–15 newborn puppies survive. Many of them even died due to several diseases and infections and alas there is no way to keep a track of their medical health.

The biggest challenge faced by the group is the lack of awareness of the existence of such a body which can be reached in times of crises. No one knows what to do in case they see a dog being harassed, abused or injured. Another problem is that this body is not yet formalized and approved by the institute, though this issue is being worked upon. We basically rely on donations from faculty and students to function. Moreover, functioning in the virtual mode has been really hard for the volunteers as well, since they are few in number as compared to the dogs.

Lastly, my biggest thanks to the volunteers who have been working day and night to make this possible in such hard times.” — Surabhi Sharma

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We don’t need to shower them with our love but at least we should learn to coexist with them since IITR belongs to them also.

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Go checkout @roorkee_cares to look at our cute friends of campus.