It all started about 15 months back, when I was just going about my day. While I was brushing my teeth in the morning, curious, I looked out of the window to find a dog lying on the road. I called my friend and we went to see the dog. His leg was crushed. We picked him up and put him on the footpath. I called the animal hospital for the ambulance but there was no response from them. I then called a local vet, but he was already busy and was out.
Hence I turned to social media for help. I took a photo of the hurt animal and put out an SOS message on my Facebook page. Notifications started to pour in, people were tagging others from their network but nothing was working out. I use to stay in Matunga East where there are 3 colleges in one line Welingkar College, Ruia college and Podar College. Since it was morning, students were passing by and trying their luck in helping the dog but in vain. Then after an hour, a lady managed to call an ambulance and we shared the cost.
Then everyone continued with their day, and for the entire day, I got notification on my FB post. At night, I was just analyzing the post and wanted to put an update, and I saw there were 6 levels of tagging, as in a person ‘A’ has tagged person ‘B’ thinking he/she might of help. Person ‘B’ cannot help so he/she tags another person ‘C’ for help and it goes on and on…
This put me in deep thought that in spite of us being surrounded by so many animal lovers, why aren’t we able to help the animals in real-time? That is when the idea of Let It Wag came.
Let It Wag
Then I started my research and started talking with animal lovers, NGO’s, vets, etc. just to get an idea of how it works. The only thing I would hear from them is ‘what was the need of another app, we use Facebook and WhatsApp to help animals.’ I was told that ‘you are not the first one to think about this idea or try it. Many have tried and failed, so don’t waste your time, money and efforts in building an app.’
This gave me more courage to go ahead and try the app. Then I joined WhatsApp groups for animal rescue and started being active on FB and use to track how they help animals.
I realized a lot of loopholes and decided to develop the app and fill in the gap.
My friend and I, we used our savings and made the app, and started spreading the word among our network. People used it and they were happy with the user-friendliness of the app and how it works and make things easy. Word of mouth was the best marketing and more and more people started using the app across India and help animals.
Let it Wag is a unique initiative about which a true passionate Animal Lover would have certainly dreamt of while trying to save/help an injured/helpless stray animal in need. This platform will connect you to a relevant person/resource in real time and also help you do the following:-
For Animal Lovers & Stray Animals
- Rescue Stray Animals
- Find Lactating mother for unfortunate babies
- Find Foster Homes
- Create your local animal lover community
- Raise funds for strays
- Report Animal Abuse
- Find a suitable Transport for Animals to help them reach nearby hospital/vet clinic
- Find a Blood Donor for animals
- Find/report missing animals
- Find nearby vet available in real time
For Pet Owners
- Find nearby pet owners
- Make your own local pet community
- Create Pet Events
- Get Events Information
For Adoption
- Find an animal for Adoption nearby
- Get an animal adopted
- Generate an adoption document agreement
‘Let It Wag’ helps you when help is most needed, in an Emergency. It immediately connects you with nearby area-specific animal lovers in real time for rescue purposes.
For example, if you see a dog bleeding on the road and you are unable to attend to him, you can send a message to the animal care giving community in five steps.
Step 1: You can open the app, and click a picture of the dog;
Step 2: The location is automatically extracted via GPS;
Step 3: You then have to select what the issue is (in this case it might be an accident); and
Step 4: Write down comments and put landmark and then submit.
A case is created and is broadcasted to all the people nearby who have the app; they also receive a notification.
Step 5: An app user can choose to accept or reject the help. Once accepted, the person gets connected with the one who has created the case and thus they can take the rescue ahead
We want to get all the stakeholders on the app, right from vets, NGOs, local volunteers, feeders, to the government, and animal lovers, to work together to save animals. We want to work closely with local authorities and government to make things more streamlined and effective
Till date, we have 6000+ downloads on the Android platform and helped more than 1000 animals and birds.
Till date, 9 dogs and 2 birds have been adopted via the app. We are looking for more and more volunteers to spread the word about the app and get more users.
Play store App Link- Let It Wag