The Save Our Strays - Mysore (SOS - Mysore) society, an informal group of Mysore city residents are animal lovers who believe in helping dogs that are forced to live on our streets. You have surely seen these dogs wandering around in search of food, getting into fights as they guard their territories, and producing puppies that are in turn forced to live on the streets. Theirs is a hard life and they are lucky if they can scavenge a meal that has not been poisoned; if they don't get stoned by humans; if they don't get into fights with other dogs.

Common opinions against helping strays include:

"These strays are 'unadoptable'. Why should we care about them?" Or,
"Humans should be first in line to receive charity." Or,
"Feeding or helping these dogs does not solve the problem. They will continue to bark in the middle of the night and be a nuisance." Or,
"It is too expensive to help these dogs. I can not afford it." Or,
"They will manage somehow. They have been doing so for years. So you don't need to worry."

The list of objections to helping strays abound. Counter arguments too are numerous. The quotes above are just a few. Strays are eminently adoptable once they have been 'cleaned' up, vaccinated, and neutered/spayed.

In India, the central theme of all our religions revolves round ahimsa and prani daya - that of treating all life forms equally and with kindness. And yet, we revere the cow but we flog the bull. If the cow is Gomata or mother, is it even remotely reasonable to flog what amounts to a father figure? We cage parrots for our livelihood and tie up their legs. We worship and then proceed to kill thousands of helpless snakes. We hound our beautiful big cats to extinction. We have even succeeded in bringing the colossus of our jungles namely Gajaraj, to his knees; with his living space, we have effectively robbed him of his dignity. We smile indulgently in our ancient spiritual wisdom when our children pelt skinny street puppies with stones, when they approach them innocently for a little petting…

Closer to home, very few want to bother with our street dogs and the problems they face; most only think of them as a nuisance at best. One tends to forget that for all their domestication, these dogs are half wild, and more than halfway hungry. When they turn violent at times for these very reasons, our netas want to deal with them 'without mercy'. Let them 'deal' with them by all means, but without mercy? Even a completely inhuman, savage person (the Noida happenings, for instance), has the luxury of the soft lap of judiciary. Who are we to pass any sort of judgement on these animals, when we have done nothing to improve their lot? The tragedy of all this is that, they have no one to take care of them but us, the same unthinking cruel humans who want to, 'without mercy', condemn them!

We in India are proud that we are a spiritual people as opposed to "that capitalistic crowd" in the west. It is ironic that in an entirely capitalistic society like most any city in the USA or Australia, one does not need to ask people to help animals in distress. They volunteer, in their hundreds, round the year. They do it only because they cannot bear to see animals in distress and not because they are after any spiritual salvation.

M.K.Gandhi said that the progress of a nation can be judged by the welfare of its animals. We are said to be a developing country. Is the progress of our country, then, to be judged only by the volume of industrialisation or improvement in her GDP? Quite obviously not. It is impossible for us to truly progress until we recapture what we have lost - our spiritual, caring past. It is time to take a step backward in order to go forward, in order to truly progress. Let us hark back to our glorious past, where all living beings were treated alike, with kindness and with respect. We have neither the time nor the inclination to listen to what our best friends the dogs are trying to tell us, while they have understood us completely, a long time ago. Let us then make up for lost time. Let us vow to listen to them. Let us improve their lot.

Dear God, please send me somebody who'll care!
I'm tired of running, I'm sick with despair.
My body is aching, it's so racked with pain,
and dear God I pray, as I run in the rain.
That someone will love me and give me a home,
a warm cozy bed and a big juicy bone.
My last owner tied me all day in the yard
Sometimes with no water, and god that was hard.
So I chewed my leash, and God I ran away.
To rummage in garbage and live as a stray.
But now God, I'm tired and hungry and cold,
and I'm so afraid that I'll never grow old.
They've chased me with sticks and hit me with stones,
while I run the streets just looking for bones!
I'm not really bad, God, please help if you can,
or I have become just a "Victim of Man!"
I'm wormy dear God and I'm ridden with fleas,
and all that I want is an Owner to please!
If you find one for me God, I'll try to be good,
and I won't chew their shoes, and I'll do as I should.
I'll love them, protect them and try to obey....
when they tell me to sit, to lie down or to stay!
I don't think I'll make it too long on my own,
cause I'm getting so weak and I'm so all alone.
Each night as I sleep in the bushes I cry,
cause I'm so afraid God, that I'm gonna die.
And I've got so much love and devotion to give,
that I should be given a new chance to Live!
So dear God, please answer my prayer,
and send me someone who will REALLY care..
That is, Dear God, if YOU'RE REALLY there!
Anonymous

Our mission is to make the lives of stray dogs as comfortable as possible. There are a number of ways in which we can help with varying levels of commitment required and lets us select the level with which we are comfortable. If there are other ways we can help please let us know.
You can send us email at webmaster@saveourstrays-mysore.org

1. Family Member - Adopt a dog into a friendly home where it becomes part of the family.
2. Neighbourhood Living - Adopt dogs that live in your neighbourhood. Feed them on a regular basis and look out for their well being.
Group Neighbourhood Living - Find similar minded people in your neighbourhood and together adopt dogs that live in your neighbourhood. As a group take turns to feed them on a regular basis and look out for their well being.
3. Group Living - If you don't have dogs in your neighbourhood volunteer to help dogs that live in another neighbourhood.
4. In-kind - If you can contribute resources such as food, milk, etc. you can help your neighbourhood dogs.

As we go about helping stray dogs, we will need resources. The following list is a suggested list of resources. This is not a comprehensive list. Please feel free to exercise your creativity.

1. Food items - Milk, bread, chapatti, rice, biscuits, meat if possible, water, eggs, etc.
2. Bowls - simple plastic bowls for food and water.
3. Collars - please put a collar on your dog.
4. Medicines - antibiotic ointments, cotton swabs, bandages.
5. Vaccinations - we need to vaccinate the dogs against Rabies, fleas and ticks.
6. Medical services - we need vets to perform neutering/spaying operations and other essential medical services preferably pro bono.
7. Transportation - dogs will need to be transported to vets for essential medical services, or for adoption events.
8. Newspaper ads - run a free ad to promote a dog in need of adoption
Speak up - Speak up on behalf of dogs with local officials, write articles about their plight, announce adoption events.

Steps to Adopting

Phase I: Establishing friendships with the dogs

1. Find the dogs in your neighbourhood that need help. This step is easy. For example, as you go about your morning walks, or run your errands, you will notice these dogs.
2. Give the dogs names. Besides being fun to come up with, they also help to identify the dogs to your neighbours if the dogs are not your family members. Most importantly, when you name dogs you begin to build a relationship with the dogs. You begin to embrace them as their guardians.
3. Feed the dogs. Most dogs will be afraid to approach you. Break some slices of bread into pieces and mix it with milk in a bowl. Give the dogs some space and walk a little distance away. Please try to feed the dogs on a daily basis at regular times. Doing so helps to reduce the level of anxiety in the dog. Multiple meals a day would be ideal. You can work out a schedule with your neighbours in case your dogs are not family members.
4. Put a collar on the dogs. A cheap collar on the dogs helps to identify them as ones that have been adopted. It also builds on your relationships with the dogs as ones that have been adopted.
5. Please email or call to notify us of the name and location of the dog as well as your contact information. With your permission we will post this to our web site.

1. Take care of cuts and wounds. Dogs live in territories that they define and defend. As a result they will get into fights where they will suffer cuts and wounds. In addition, human cruelty leads to the dogs getting wounded. This is where your first aid kit comes handy. A little anti-bacterial ointment applied to the wound helps the dogs heal fast.
3. Neutering and Spaying (Sterilization) your pets. It is important to ensure that your dogs do not continue to produce litters. While this is expensive, in the long run it is cheaper than having to manage a growing population of dogs. If you can afford it, please take your pet to a Vet to sterilize the dog. It is important to watch over the dogs in the few days right after sterilization.

Phase III: Taking in a dog as a family member

We like to keep a list of people who have adopted dogs around Mysore. If one of us has to travel then we can request someone on this list to help while we are out. If you would like to be a friend of a stray and have not spotted any dogs in your neighbourhood, we can list your name here as well. Just send us an email to webmaster@saveourstrays-mysore.org. You can also contact the people here to find out how you can help them. And if you do not want your name listed please let us know.

1. Mrs. & Mr. Patel, Yadavagiri. They have adopted 12 dogs and serve as an inspiration to all of us.
2. Prema Chengappa, Yadavagiri
3. Latha Muthanna, Yadavagiri
4. Indira Venkatraman, Saraswathipuram
5. Poorna Chandra, Vijaynagar
6. Ullas Prabhu, Saraswathipuram

World Animal Net is the world's largest network of animal protection societies with consultative status at the UN.

World Society for the Protection of Animals works with more than 660 member organizations in over 140 countries to raise the standards of animal welfare throughout the world.