Dear compassionate animal lover and well-wisher of VSPCA

India has been hit by a huge second coronavirus wave and its effect has been devastating across all sections of society as well as across all life forms on our only planet earth. Millions of people have been infected, with record cases being reported every day, resulting in thousands of deaths. The health care system has broken down, and crematoriums are overflowing with bodies.

We have come to a situation where people are dying due to a lack of supply of oxygen, an invaluable life functioning asset this earth has provided us for free!

Today, millions of innocent animals in India are suffering more than anyone is noticing due to a human-made disaster.

Since the states enforce lockdowns and restrictions, the streets are deserted, making it impossible for street animals to find food. With shops and restaurants closed down the canines' main source of sustenance - garbage scraps are gone. Without proper food and water, a large number of animals would suffer and die.

As much as we are stretching our resources to cater to the needs of as many animals as possible, it is getting really difficult for us to continue with all the restrictions, safety protocols, and funding limitations. Our one-stop dog feeding station already feeds more than 800 dogs every day. Now with the pandemic situation, we have to increase our production of food packets to feed as many animals as possible. But, this pandemic had made it very difficult for us to run this programme on such a large scale. Procuring raw materials from vendors on a regular basis, preparing food with our only cook with all the safety precautions, and distributing the food packets even in the covid affected, restricted areas exposing our staff members is not an easy job. It has put enormous mental and physical pressure on our cook Nagamani and other staff members who distribute the food packets. But they didn't give up and are still working every day in these tough situations to do their part in helping as many animals as we can.

An old picture of our cook Ms Nagamani

We urgently need funds to increase food packet production and distribute it to as many animals as possible. Consider donating to us to help us feed the greatest number of animals that we can at our current capacity. We will make certain that your contributions go well beyond the distribution of food packets and the reduction of the number of animals dying from hunger.

The actions of the national government and the local government authorities in regards to this pandemic have not been inclusive of the welfare of the animals. The sole priority of the restrictions, lockdowns, and other measures implemented have been human-centric completely neglecting the welfare and protection of animals.

It is disheartening to see so many animals being abandoned and left to suffer because of a human-made disaster even though we are the one's that domesticated animals and brought them into our urban lives. What wrong did they do? Why should they suffer for the mistakes made by us humans?

We are witnessing a lot of cases where animals are being abandoned on the streets during this high humidity peak summertime including pedigree dogs, calves, cats, and buffaloes. Where will these poor creatures find food and water to survive? How can people leave their pets to suffer on the roads after enjoying their warmth, company, and support for years?

A few pictures of the abandoned animals which VSPCA team rescued.

Our shelters are already at maximum capacity due to the intake of a large number of abandoned animals from the first wave of the pandemic. Our infrastructure and resources are under enormous pressure due to the increase in the number of emergency distress calls and cases of abandonments. There are even some cases where pet animals were being locked inside the house and left by the owners or the owners are in quarantine or isolation. How will the animal survive in such a case? We have handled so many such cases during the pandemic even exposing our staff members to the infections to make sure the animals are set free and provided with food.

Consider contributing to us to enable our staff members and volunteers to rescue more such abandoned and stuck animals and stop them from dying during this second wave of the pandemic.

The number of covid cases is increasing, and the condition is deteriorating by every day, so the number of new issues we face every other day is growing. As one of corona's worst-hit countries of the world, India's official numbers are far from on-ground reality. Especially in Andhra Pradesh, where a new mutant that is 10 times stronger than the usual one has spread like a wildfire across the state, with Visakhapatnam being one of the worst-hit cities. There is a covid affected individual in almost every household in Urban Visakhapatnam. People are also apprehensive about taking the test because of long lines at the testing center thereby reducing the official numbers to a large extent. Even the state is experiencing a vaccine shortage, leaving the public despondent and opting to stay at home. Hundreds of people are dying as they couldn't find hospital beds or liquid oxygen to survive. 

The affected individuals work in all sectors of the economy and in all departments of the government. The workers of the municipality are affected and a few of them are in serious condition leading to a complete shutdown of the department. There are no rescues or vaccinations done by the government currently in Visakhapatnam. Only VSPCA alone is attending emergency distress calls and performing vaccinations at their maximum capacity in the entire city even entering into hotspot areas. 

Running two big shelters with more than 1300 permanent resident animals requires constant procurement of raw materials, medicines, and food items. But, with this pandemic hitting everyone in the food supply chain the situation had turned very uncertain. We have already faced issues where a few of the vendors were affected due to covid and couldn't supply us with the required materials. It increases pressure on the shelters to manage such issues as the animals are waiting for us to feed them and treat their injuries. Animals don't understand these situations, so it is we who have to make sure we cater to their needs on time.

To address this problem to some degree, we began stockpiling dry goods such as dry hay, biscuits, and medicines. However, due to extreme financial constraints, we can only stock up to a certain degree. We need your help to stock up on more vital supplies so that our shelter animals do not go hungry or suffer from health problems as a result of the pandemic. 

As much as we wanted to help as many animals as possible in our capacity, our animal warriors are still humans and can catch this virus. Even though we are working round the clock attending emergency distress calls and distributing food packets, the exposure led to so many infections among our staff members. Once a staff member is affected he/she has to go into quarantine leading to a reduction in working staff members. So, the pandemic has decreased our daily workforce to almost half but the work has increased more than four times. We are very privileged, proud, and humbled by the dedication of our staff members at our shelters and also on the ground. They took the initiative to work more amid this pandemic with the sole goal of the welfare of animals. Our shelter staff was worried about who will take care of the more than 1300 animals if they don't show up. So, the unaffected staff members chose to come to the shelters even the work doubled.

We also want to make a special mention about our dedicated volunteer team who are helping as many animals as possible by attending cases in areas where we cant reach in time.

We are supplying masks, vital medications, and paying for covid tests for the staff members as part of our small contribution to their invaluable service. We have also got some covid medication kits on hand, which the government had prescribed in case any new employees are affected.

More than 20 of our employees were affected due to covid and a few of them are in serious condition. We wish them a speedy recovery and hope they bounce back as soon as possible to do the work they love. Even our founder Mr. Pradeep Kumar Nath is in isolation currently making it hard to coordinate and run different programmes on the ground a bit more difficult.

Our staff members Ram Babu(left) and Rama Rao (right) who are currently battling hard to beat the covid in the hospital

Your contribution to VSPCA in these hard times will go long way in helping animals and prevent them from dying from hunger and helplessness.