OVERVIEW
AIRO was launched on Saturday, 28th September 2019, in Delhi (India) - the world's hotspot for rabies, where a third of all human cases occur. That's the death of a child every hour.
2019 Our big launch:
Volunteers from different states of India joined forces with local dog catchers and vets to make this campaign a huge success, not only protecting so many dogs from Rabies, but increasing awareness and making Rabies a country-wide issue.
The Charities
At every place we visit, we are totally dependent on the amazing local animal charities that campaign and work tirelessly to make a difference.
These charities are the champions of AIRO - have a scroll down and learn more about them here!
Blue cross of India
Chennai
Blue Cross of India (BCI) founded in 1964 is one of India's largest and leading animal welfare NGOs and has been credited with being the first organization in the world to conceptualize the Animal Birth Control-Anti Rabies (ABC-AR) program, the single-most powerful tool in humane stray dog population control and rabies management.
Blue Cross has been running this program in Chennai since 1964 and the declaration of Chennai as India’s first rabies-free metro in 2010 after three years of no rabies in humans is tangible proof of the effectiveness of this method. BCI's pioneering work in this area is now being replicated in advanced countries. It was only after BCI's success in this program that WHO (World Health Organization) too has recommended ABC as the only humane way to control the street dog population.
BCI also runs a free hospital and an ambulance service for the treatment of injured and sick animals, with over 2000 resident animals at any point of time between the 4 centres it operates from. The work of BCI has led to path breaking legislative changes having successfully campaigned for the ban of various cruel practices including jallikattu, export of monkeys for research and the export of frogs' legs. BCI was also instrumental in making dissection optional at high school level and introduced pet therapy and the Dr Dog program in India for differently abled children.
BCI has spearheaded the homeless dog adoption revolution in India, to humanely reduce the stray dog population. Tens of thousands of animals have been rescued from illness or injury and thousands have found adoptive homes subsequently. Blue Cross has also successfully re-homed animals rescued from laboratories performing animal testing. The Blue Cross also boasts of the largest number of youth volunteers and is one of the only organizations to be managed purely by volunteers on an honorary basis, with the only paid staff being the doctors and attenders. BCI also has the transparency to publish its Audited results on its website.
bluecrossofindia.org
GPRS
Goa
Gomantak Pashu Rakshak Sanstha (GPRS) was founded by people passionate about animal welfare in South Goa. Their Mission is to teach kindness and save animals through their Education and Animal Rescue initiatives.
The GPRS Animal Rescue was set up to provide aid for stray animals that are sponsored by compassionate members of society. GPRS work to encourage people to experience the positive effect that their involvement can have on animals in need. Sterilisation of a stray, treatment of an injury, providing food & shelter can all change the life of a homeless, abandoned animal. The GPRS education initiative The LEARN Centre, focuses on educating children about kindness to each other, animals and the environment. This involves the creation and delivery of holistic education programmes in schools around South Goa. At GPRS, we firmly believe that grassroots education is vital to making significant changes in attitudes. The seeds of awareness of the environment, kindness to animals and each other need to be sown at a young age to make the required impact on future generations.
Ranchi
Helping Organisation for People, Environment and Animal Trust was registered on August 1, 2001 at Ranchi, Jharkhand as a non-profit organisation. The aims of the organisation are to work for the protection of the environment and animals, to control the increasing population of street dogs, to prevent their suffering and to help local communities by reducing poverty through farm animal welfare programmes.
Since the organisation was formed, their priority was to reduce the number of dogs by sterilisation and to help the sick and injured. This vital work began in October 2007 and since then has Sterilized and Vaccinated more than 20000 dogs and bitches. With further support from other groups, they have increased the number of Spay and Neuter cases to 10000 a year.
They have fifteen full-time and two part-time paid staff and about ten active unpaid volunteers. HOPE Rescue and Rehabilitation Shelter for Animals at Khunti, 35 km from Ranchi has been built and this is run entirely by volunteers.
hopeandanimal.org
Humane Animal Society
Coimbatore
Humane Animal Society (HAS) is a private not-for-profit trust established in 2006, managed and supported by the animal lovers and compassionate citizens of Coimbatore.
Since inception, HAS has been engaged in the Animal Birth Control/Animal Rabies Vaccination programme for the city of Coimbatore through a Memorandum of Understanding with the city corporation and recognized by the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI). In addition to the ABC/ARV programme, HAS is deeply involved in all aspects of animal welfare including adoptions of Indian dogs and cats, rescue and rehabilitation of abandoned animals, humane education, vaccination camps and treatment and care of several out-patient animals daily.
hasindia.org
International animal rescue
Goa
Animal Tracks is the name of International Animal Rescues centre in the town of Mapusa in the north of Goa. It was opened in 1998 by John Hicks and his wife Jo to relieve the suffering of the local stray dog and cat populations.
Over the years the centre has grown from a few makeshift cages under a palm leaf roof to a fully equipped vet clinic with a kennel block housing 90 dogs and a purpose-built cattery for 50 cats. The centre has two surgeries, an x-ray and ECG machine and equipment for orthopaedic surgery. They employ 28 full-time members of staff including six fully qualified vets under the leadership of Veterinary Director Astrid Almeida.
From initially treating almost solely stray dogs and cats, the clinic has expanded to treat all kinds of animals, both domestic and wild and the centre has about 200 animals in care at any one time. As well as dogs and cats, they also provide rehabilitation and shelter for injured livestock, birds and wildlife. John and Jo also provide sanctuary for several monkeys that have been rescued from captivity or injured on the busy roads. iar.org.uk
Ipan
erode
India Project for Animals and Nature (IPAN) is an animal welfare organisation dedicated to preventing cruelty towards animals, improving the health and welfare of domestic and wild animals, protecting the environment and by doing so, improving the livelihoods of people who depend on them. IPAN believes that 'Animal Welfare Means Human Welfare'.
Established in 1997, IPAN is a registered Trust, managed by a Board of Trustees and headed by the Managing Trustee Nigel Otter, a well-known animal activist in India who has received several awards for his dedication to animal welfare and nature conservation.
In the small village of Mavanalla, IPAN runs an animal shelter - the Hill View Farm Animal Refuge - but IPAN's work, especially in the humane animal handling and animal birth control programmes, are known far and wide outside the Nilgiris district as well. indiapan.org
Isaw
Indian Society for Animal-Human Welfare (iSAW) formed with the objective of protecting the welfare of animals and people in Nagpur in 2005. It is recognised by the Animal Welfare Board of India and is also a member of the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO).
They run a regular animal clinic as well as animal health camps to provide veterinary services and medicines free of charge to sick and injured animals. They also run a successful Animal Birth Control - Rabies Vaccination programme, which treated over 13,000 animals between 2006 and 2010.
iSAW runs campaigns to protect donkeys, sparrows and other birds, and awareness campaigns on responsible dog ownership.
They have a separate wing for school students, Young Angels for Animals, which aims to spread compassion and kindness to animals through its various classroom programmes.
People for animals
Bhubaneshwar, Coimbatore, erode, goa, Kolkata, Trivandrum
People for Animals is India's largest animal welfare organisation with a nationwide network of 250,000 members, 160 units and 26 hospitals. With Mrs Maneka Gandhi as the chairperson, the organisation undertakes animal rescue and rehabilitation work across the country. It is their aim to set up animal welfare centres in each of India's 600 districts.
What they do:
Create Infrastructure - Upgrade and establish facilities for animal rescue and rehabilitation such as shelters, ambulances, mobile clinics and helplines. Street
Animal Sterilisation – Conduct sterilisation and vaccination programmes for street dogs in order to bring down their numbers in a humane manner. Influence Policy – Act as a pressure group to bring about environment and animal friendly legislation. Ensure implementation of animal welfare laws – Take direct action through units to protect animals and punish offenders. Animal Adoption Drives – Undertake massive adoption drives for Indian dogs and cats. Educate and sensitise - Introduce animal welfare in schools as a teaching or extra-curricular activity. peopleforanimalsindia.org pfaorissa.org pfagoa.org
Vets for animals
Nagpur
Vets for Animals (VFA) is a group of veterinarians who came together to provide excellent veterinary services for the wellbeing of animals. Dr Shridhar Budhe and Dr Shashikant Jadhav, both with a broad experience of animal welfare work, founded the organization in 2007. VFA's main activities are Animal Birth Control, training of vets, animal welfare activities and provision of technical support to other animal welfare organisations and NGOs who require their expertise. VFA has sterilized more than 30000 dogs and vaccinated 14000 dogs to date across several locations, including Rajkot, Bangalore, Hubli, Sangali, Satara, Kolhapur, Chintamani and Magalwedha. The organization has also run many ABC camps in rural locations and gives regular surgical training sessions to field vets.
VFA provides their technical services to assist in the treatment of injured birds during the Kite Festival in Ahmedabad. VFA is working to minimize rabies incidence through vaccination programmes and plan to open an animal hospital at Koparde Haveli Karad to provide treatment for large and small animals in this rural area.
Wag
Goa
Welfare for Animals in Goa (WAG) helps stray animals of Goa in three different ways.
Firstly, they have a beach monitoring and feeding programme, to help beach cats and dogs that are isolated by the monsoon and suffering food shortages when tourism is out of season from May until October. The priority is always to sterilize (neuter) the dogs in the local area to help control the population.
Secondly, they have an adoption scheme, where they rehome abandoned animals and, where necessary, provide medicine, vaccinations against rabies and common viral diseases as well as ongoing support to their caretakers. This includes financial support for neutering.
Finally, they have a small cow rehoming shelter, where they treat injured stray cows and, when they are fit, they are rehomed to a farm and never put them back on the streets to suffer the risk of garbage ingestion and starvation.
wagoa.com