On reaching Obhoyaronno-Bangladesh Animal Welfare Foundation, located at Shahid Tajuddin Ahmed Sharani,we caught sight of a busy scenario. It was around 11 in the morning and the veterinary surgeons and animal welfare officers were engaged in observing, vaccinating and sterilizing stray dogs.
Obhoyaronno, which roughly means a “Sanctuary”, refers to the forest that ensures the fearless roaming of animals by protecting them. By extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. Obhoyaronno - Bangladesh Animal Welfare Foundation has justified its name by its single-minded devotion towards making Bangladesh a safe place for stray animals.
Obhoyaronno, the very first animal welfare foundation of Bangladesh was founded in 2009, by Rubaiya Ahmad. This foundation has been relentlessly working for many years to ensure the safety of dogs, the most neglected canines of Bangladesh. Kudos goes to her organization as it brought an end to dog culling. It has been sterilizing and vaccinating stray dogs for ten years. It has received several local and international awards including the “Humane Society International Animal Advocate of the Year” award in 2012.
The organization has been running a strategic program called CNVR (Catch Neuter Vaccinate Return) with support from Dhaka City Corporation. The Obhoyaronno team goes to specific locations on a regular basis and catches around 10-20 dogs and brings them to their clinic. Here, they are watched by veterinary surgeons and animal welfare officers. The healthy dogs are vaccinated and sterilized. And the ill dogs that require any other medical attention are given the necessary treatments including surgery. The vaccinated and sterilized dogs are marked and the next day they are released in the area from which they were picked up, said Dr Mahmuder Rahman, Senior Veterenary Surgeon of Obhoyaronno.
Rubaiya Ahmad, the chairman of Obhoyaronno was inspired to establish this organization when she lost one of her pet dogs which was killed by dog cullers when she moved to Bangladesh after living in the United States for a decade. Since then she has been combating the cruelty to animals by overcoming all the odds that came in her way.
When asked about her achievements, she talked about successfully including dog vaccination in the rabies prevention policy of Bangladesh, bringing it under the radar of government and convincing them that dog culling cannot be a solution to eradicate rabies. They consider it lucky to have the opportunity to get involved in the lengthy procedure of passing a new animal welfare law after 100 years and feel proud of this achievement.
Regarding the recent relocation of dogs and the uproar and reaction of the animal lovers against it, Rubaiya says “the society has changed, young people have learned to speak up. Society has evolved and progressed into a place where people cannot get away with hitting dog or killing puppies any more. This progress has not been achieved by a single organization, rather through collective effort. Obhoyaronno is proud to be a part of this journey.”
Obhoyaronno eventually wants to work only for education and policy reformation, as running a spay-neuter clinic is very expensive and it’s not possible for a small NGO to manage the fund-raising and crisis to sustain it. “We are looking into starting a humane education program in cox’s Bazar. The plan has not been formed up yet, we are just talking about this at the moment” said Rubaiya.
The organization hopes for the government to come forward and take responsibility for the ongoing spay-neuter program at Dhaka North City Corporation. This work should spread across the country.
