A member of Animal Welfare Trust Ekamra puts a reflective collar on a street dog in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 25: A group of youngsters have started an initiative to facilitate the visibility of street animals during night to check road mishaps in the city.
The group, under the banner Animal Welfare Trust Ekamra, has started a campaign 'Illuminating Lives', in which the members are putting reflective collars on street dogs, which catch the light reflected from vehicles, making the animals visible in darkness.
'At night due to lack of visibility it becomes difficult to see street animals from a certain distance. Spotting the animal only when it is close to the vehicle results in accidents. Such accidents harm animals and humans and also causes loss of property,' said Purabi Patra, one the members of the group.
The campaign was started after many accidents took place because the driver couldn't spot the animal on the road.
'The only way to avoid such accidents is to facilitate the visibility of street animals so that drivers get enough time to control the movement of the vehicle. This could be made possible by putting reflective collars on animals, which catch the light from vehicles and other sources,' Patra said. In the first phase, the group has put such collars on 100 dogs.
'These dogs will be observed to find out the how effectively the initiative worked. Later, similar efforts will be made to ensure the safety of cattle as well,' she added.
The team plans to gradually increase the stock of such collars to save lives of stray animals.
The animal welfare group has been involved in various awareness campaigns.
During summers, the group started an initiative to encourage people to provide water to animals and birds.
They have also been involved in an animal adoption campaign for street dogs.
This apart, they have been staging various rallies to demand stricter laws against animal abuse. More than 100 animal lovers are a part of this campaign.
'The world is waking up to fight animal abuse. This is a massive movement where citizens are coming together to raise their voices,' Patra added. The members will shortly organise an awareness campaign to protest atrocities against animals.
