An 8000 Km Road Trip With Abby To Raise Awareness of Animal Welfare.
Eight year old Labrador Abby was rescued last year by an animal lover in Bengaluru, India. When she was rescued, she had a very bad maggot infestation as well as tick fever which was treated at Charlie's Animal Rescue Centre (CARE). She battled both and survived and as luck had it, was adopted by animal lovers Bengaluru based entrepreneur Mayank and his techie wife Akshi Kinger.
Abby was adopted in March, 2016 and was Mayank and Akshi's preference as they were keen to adopt either an old or disabled dog as not many people come forward to adopt them. Mayank shares "I came to know about Abby through my network of animal volunteers at CARE and it was love at first sight. I just knew that I had to get her home ".
Abby would fall ill whenever Mayank travelled on work and both missed each other badly. Hence Mayank decided to take her for the road trip they had planned and do what is closest to his heart - create awareness on animal welfare. All three will leave for the trip on 6th October, cover 20 cities and clock 8,000 kms covering the Indian states of Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Gujarat. They intend connecting with animal welfare workers/ volunteers in these places, hold press conferences, and take out a rally in the cities.
Mayank says "Since Abby was not a young dog or pup, she had to be in the shelter for months before she was seen and adopted by us. People like to adopt pups because they look cute but when the pups grow up, sadly many people abandon them. Getting a pet home is a life-time responsibility. With our trip, we want to not only increase awareness on animal welfare and animal rights, but also encourage people to adopt senior dogs. We hope we are able to change mindsets and motivate people".
Elaborating on his trip, Mayank shares "We shall return on October 29 and intend covering not more than 450 kms per day. Abby will be taken care of and given supplements and plenty of liquids. She loves long drives and mostly sleeps through them. I am sure she is going to have as much fun as we will. We had earlier taken her to Kodaikanal by road and she loved it ".
Mayank is actively looking for sponsors for the whole campaign. He adds "CARE is our charity partner. After covering the expenses of our trip, the remaining amount will be used for CARE's day to day operations. Since this is a very large-scale initiative, we are looking for travel/ media partners/ collaborators/ sponsors who can help us with funds, media coverage and other assistance during the campaign. When a company opts to be a sponsor/collaborator, a sticker of their brand name/logo will be pasted on the car and during our media interactions, their role and contribution will be mentioned alongside names of individuals who sponsor. We have a Facebook page dedicated to this cause called “Abby Unleashed".
Mayank feels that there is increasing animal abuse in our country and animals are exploited and abused badly. He says "Animals deserve rights, regardless of how they taste or how convenient it is to experiment on them. Like humans, animals suffer too but sadly so, in silence. They are not ours to use for food, clothing, experimentation or entertainment".
