NGO turns saviour for stray dogs amid bone-chilling cold

New Delhi: In what comes as a relief for stray dogs amidst bone-chilling winter in the national capital, a Noida-based NGO has been distributing dog coats and beds made of sack, free of cost. The next phase of the drive will be conducted on December 31 at the NGO, House of Stray Animals (HSA), in Sector-54, Noida. The first three phases were conducted on December 19, December 21 and December 25. People who wish to collect free coats for stray animals in their area can register themselves by sending their name, address and number of dogs, on the contact number +91-9818048398 by Friday evening.

More than 140 people have registered themselves to collect free coats and beds and over 1,800 coats have been ordered so far, for the drive on December 31, Founder of HSA, Sanjay Mohapatra told PTI. The drive also includes anti-rabies vaccines, 6-in-1 vaccine shots and deworming medicines, free of cost. "We received good response from people when we began the drive on December 25. Around 897 dog coats were distributed to 75 people and more than 50 animals were also vaccinated on the same day," he said.

Mohapatra said that a large number of youngsters showed up during the first phase of the drive, who not just collected dog coats but also got several stray animals vaccinated. "We are expecting the second phase of the drive to be a large-scale one as more than 140 people have registered for collecting dog coats so far. We have ordered 1,800 coats as of now but expecting that the number will cross 2,000 by Friday," Mohapatra said.

Cold wave and cold day conditions are predicted to wallop parts of Delhi on New Year's eve and the winter chill would intensify further in early January, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has said. Cold conditions have abated in north India, including Delhi, for now under the influence of a western disturbance, characterised by warm moist winds from the Middle East. However, the minimum will start dropping again from December 31, meteorologists said. The minimum will drop to 6 degrees Celsius on Saturday and further to 4 degrees Celsius by Monday (January 2), the IMD forecast said.