Animal Welfare and Slum Federation

An win-win innovative approach with an important stakeholder in animal welfare- SDF Slum Dwellers Federation. We are glad to note the interest and confirmation in the letter from their President.

CJ Memorial Trust has been keen to get a better partnership with important stakeholders like the slums and settlements to increase safety , welfare, ensure awareness & empowerment etc . In this regard , discussions were held on this subject which could prove very impactful as it also innovatively addresses the issue of potential employment opportunities in the animal welfare space.

We assume KAWB and BBMP would be very happy about these initiatives and will tailor make specific modules to address these aspects. We await their response .

Your thoughts and suggestions would be appreciated.

---

Letter from Slum Dwellers Federation dated 12 Jan 25 in response to our mail and letter below:

Dear Mrs Rajgopal,

Thank you for your kind mail , and you have indeed made some very important points and opened our eyes.

We are definitely concerned about the safety of our dwellers and also providing them more information so that bites and rabies can be avoided and at the same time we can get better attention from BBMP etc  in ensuring these area dogs are neutered and vaccinated. Very often our settlements may not be fully aware of the laws and their rights to get the area properly handled , or that the street  dogs cannot be relocated or culled. We will be very happy if you could do this program and initiate a few awareness programs at designated sites. We can make a pilot project in one or two settlements and then expand from there. 

Your point on employment opportunities is also very good as many of our settlements have strong animal lovers who may be very interested in working in the Animal welfare and pets space.. Once again if we can do some training for selected youth in selected  few settlements as a pilot project it will be a very good start. 

Overall we are in complete agreement on this excellent proposal and thank you for sharing your very practica lideas on the subject. Look forward to starting this off at the earliest , so please let us know next steps. 

Thanking you

Sincerely,

John Samuel

President SDF

---

Our Letter to John Samuel dated 10 Jan 2025 , President, Slum Dwellers Federation

Dear John:

If you recall, this conversation first started off with a concern we had about increasing human safety as well as  BBMP mediated dog sterilisation &  vaccination (ABC/ARV – i.e. Animal Birth Control & Anti Rabies Vaccination) )  across the settlements, so that  not only the dwellers are protected but the dogs are all responsibly vaccinated and neutered for your safety. Like in many spheres , the settlements may often miss the needed focus of BBMP, but we can escalate and action that . However we start looking at more areas of collaboration which can also benefit the settlement with volunteering as well as job opportunities.

We were concerned about how to integrate both Animal welfare, human safety and cruelty prevention across the settlements. There is a massive need for awareness and education programs, but I also think that there are tremendous opportunities and synergy in training and employment facilities.

To help and support the SDF and dwellers better on the dog issue, the basic focus areas would be: 

•  Education& implementation around vaccination, neuter,  rabies street dogs, care, and protection.

• Also on law escalation and BBMP/SPCA rules so the citizens are informed and empowered on their rights. We can do some programs with well-known NGO like CARE and others.

• Employment possibilities  : to look at Animal lover volunteers who would like to initially intern at Animal organizations as paravets, attenders, catchers, groomers, ambulance drivers, feeders etc. 

• We can also consider paravet training for selected people so they can look at the animal welfare industry as a job opportunity while also pursuing their own love for animals. It’s a win-win.

• Working with and enabling children specifically, creating ambassadors and goodwill would be another plus.

I think this is going to be a unique model that will get picked up across the country if we are able to do this right. Please respond with your thoughts so we can start off asap.

Sincerely

Priya Chetty-Rajagopal

Trustee ,

CJ Memorial Trust