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WHY ARE WE LIKE THIS?
Locked out Indians are abandoning their pets on the streets—helpless, scared, and hungry
April 2, 2020
By Niharika SharmaAviation and social media reporter
From our Obsession
Being Human
We’ve never been as connected, or as isolated.
When they found him in an East Delhi locality towards the end of February, the tall, dark, and handsome labrador was hungry, weak, scared, and depressed.
Apparently abandoned by his owners in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the well-bred dog had taken shelter inside a building under construction. Noticing his plight, someone called Ummeed Social Welfare Society, an Uttar Pradesh-based NGO that took him in.
“Stray dogs had begun attacking him, he was in a very weak condition,” says Nidhi Sharma, Ummeed’s co-founder. “We call him Buzzo now,” Sharma told Quartz.
Buzzo now lives with his new family in Meerut, some 80 kilometres north of Delhi. “He is a happy child who loves to go on bike rides, not realising he is a little overgrown for that,” Sharma said.
Not every abandoned pet is as lucky as Buzzo, though. “We just lost a beagle pup, whom we suspect was poisoned by his owners before he was left on the streets,” Sharma said.
What’s fuelling the fear among the pet owners are news reports of a couple of dogs and a cat being tested positive for the virus in Hong Kong.
However, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), in its research, has said that these pets are likely to have been exposed to the virus from their owners or other people.
“There are some coronaviruses that infect cats and dogs but do not infect humans,” explained the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website. “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some cause illness in people and others cause illness in certain types of animals. The virus that infects animals can become able to infect people, but this is rare. We do not have evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread Covid-19.”
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Locked out Indians are abandoning their pets on the streets—helpless, scared, and hungry
April 2, 2020
By Niharika SharmaAviation and social media reporter
From our Obsession
Being Human
We’ve never been as connected, or as isolated.
When they found him in an East Delhi locality towards the end of February, the tall, dark, and handsome labrador was hungry, weak, scared, and depressed.
Apparently abandoned by his owners in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the well-bred dog had taken shelter inside a building under construction. Noticing his plight, someone called Ummeed Social Welfare Society, an Uttar Pradesh-based NGO that took him in.
“Stray dogs had begun attacking him, he was in a very weak condition,” says Nidhi Sharma, Ummeed’s co-founder. “We call him Buzzo now,” Sharma told Quartz.
Buzzo now lives with his new family in Meerut, some 80 kilometres north of Delhi. “He is a happy child who loves to go on bike rides, not realising he is a little overgrown for that,” Sharma said.
Not every abandoned pet is as lucky as Buzzo, though. “We just lost a beagle pup, whom we suspect was poisoned by his owners before he was left on the streets,” Sharma said.
What’s fuelling the fear among the pet owners are news reports of a couple of dogs and a cat being tested positive for the virus in Hong Kong.
However, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), in its research, has said that these pets are likely to have been exposed to the virus from their owners or other people.
“There are some coronaviruses that infect cats and dogs but do not infect humans,” explained the US-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its website. “Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses. Some cause illness in people and others cause illness in certain types of animals. The virus that infects animals can become able to infect people, but this is rare. We do not have evidence that companion animals, including pets, can spread Covid-19.”
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