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Writer's pictureThe CJ Memorial Trust

Indies are the new Cool- a consulting approach

 

2021 Editorial Deccan Herald by Priya Chetty-Rajagopal https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/story/india/indies-are-the-new-cool-996874.html

In the early years of the Sunday Cubbon Dog Park, we used to hear the oohs and aahs only when a St Bernard, Husky or Akita sauntered in. Now, over 60% of dogs at this Sunday Page 3 Do are Indies or Rescues – and get the maximum attention & fussing, while the proud parent shares a pet snippet or their rescue story. Adoption of the gorgeous, adaptable, healthy & intelligent Indiedog is such an obvious, sensible solution that our CJ Memorial Trust volunteers and I are surprised people are not taking truckfuls home!

 

Animal welfare discussions tend to be soft and fuzzy and rightly so, but I’m also a consultant, so let's try a contrarian lens and a hardcore, practical, supply chain angle. We have over 3.14 lakhIndian dogs on the street, perhaps about 40% are neutered. This means the balance dogs are reproducing almost at every heat cycle. With India’s compassionate, no-cull policy, it is imperative to assimilate and address these numbers. So Neuter/Vaccination programs must be dialled up, as must street dogs adoptions. Ergothe need for #IndieProud & IndieDogDay campaigns.

 

As a segue from the global standard of #ADS ie adopt don't shop (where pet parents adopt from a shelter, rather than buy a pedigree) adopting Indies seem to be the next level of sophistication and is increasingly visible in the millennial and tech savvy population. Given their level of influence & social media savvy, it is a small but significant start. The multiplier effect kicks in when the Indie adoption results in the new parents also caring & feeding their community streeties around and later, even sterilising. They seem to be consciously moving away from the old jaat/caste/pedigree mindsets that prevented Indie adoptions, incorporating this effort with their own focus on environment and sustainability. The pressure to adopt Indies has been interestingly pushed from both the PCA or Prevention of cruelty to animals act (resulting in lower supply of pedigree dogs given stringent breeder controls – Dog Breeding and Marketing Rules 2017 ), as well as the Indie Dog’s huge supply , sheer charm, tremendous resilience and looks. Interestingly, the kahani-me-twist was our Prime Minister connecting nationalism & Make in India also via the Indie dogs, so suddenly being IndieDogparent was being a patriotic, true blue Indian. As National Geographic who met us and the hundreds of visiting pets at the Dog Park last year - headlined in their article on dogs in India – Indies are the new cool.

 

The Indie Dog issue presents an opportunity and a challenge – and the chance to save many. Yes, obviously, we need to bridge supply and demand both by reducing supply and increasing branding and demand, but we can succeed only if we look at it as actual management issue to be resolved without being distractedby the liquidly intelligent eyes, whirring tail and pointed kangaroo ears of the gorgeous Indie next to you!

 

My Indie Dog mind map focused on also getting an Indie DogDay (like a Groundhog Day or Lights Off Day) declared by government or NGO -not just to create awareness or draw attention to Indies, but also have a hook to hang all our thoughts and ideas around bridging supply/demand. An online petition was launched that created an impact. Clearly the need was to be able work with the government on the supply side, which involved a whole different approaches and work with both government and critical private stakeholders (corporates, vets, pet companies, NGOs etc) on rapidly and stringently pushing up demand especially by smart branding.

 

Therefore CJ Memorial Trust & CABC worked closely with the BBMP-AH (Animal Husbandry) top brass to ramp up the neuter/spay programs by creating tighter city & zonal mechanisms and contractors; by creating social media structures with citizens & animal lovers and WhatsApp group to manage escalations & concerns in this public private partnership; looking at success metrics being zero rabies and zero pups in each zone. While focusing on  a more static supply it was critical to getBBMP to push demand in parallel. The BBMP-CJMT #IndieProud Campaign we presented last quarter (approved in May 21!) is the first of its kind in the country campaign where BBMP-AH would not only conduct Indie adoption camps, build better #IndieDog branding , but ensure free vaccination, neuter as well as free pet licenses for Indie dogs adopters. This program will be launched once the lockdown eases.

 

We have addressed who, what, why, when, where. A cute fellow Indian awaits a home! What are we waiting for?


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