Mangaluru Activist Uses Reflective Collars To Save Stray Dogs From Road Accidents

It is disheartening to see stray animals like dogs and cattle being hit by road vehicles. These incidences mostly take place at night due to lack of street lights and driver’s callousness. Sadly, the government has not done much on this part except cutting ribbons for 24*7 animal healthcare facilities.

However, one person from Mangaluru, Karnataka has made his mission to save stray dogs by putting reflective collars on their necks. These collars will illuminate at night or whenever it comes in contact with a bright source of light such as vehicle headlights. A 31-years-old MBA graduate has gone out and tied these reflective collars on stray dogs. Tauseef Ahmed, who is an animal activist and closely associated with the city based Animal Care Trust (ACT) in Surathkal for more than ten years, has bought around 500 of these reflective collars from Indore. These collars cost him around Rs 40 each, and he paid all from his own pocket.

Tauseef told the news agency ANI that he has been occupied with these reflective collar’s project for more than 1.5 months and that he is elated within this period no news death of dogs having these reflective collars has been reported. The reflective collars can catch the attention of a person from a distance of about 50 meters. Notably, the 19th Livestock Census (Karnataka) in 2012 showed that Dakshina Kannada had the highest number of dogs, registered at 1,46,510.

Mangaluru: To save stray dogs from being hit by vehicles, Thousif Ahmad has been tying reflective collars around their necks. Ahmad says, "it has been 1.5 months I've started this project & luckily not a single dog with a collar around its neck has been injured." #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/fLDmbNCcoh

— ANI (@ANI) April 24, 2019

The News Minute reported that Tauseef who was raised at Kudremukh in Chikmagalur district moved to Mangaluru about 13 years ago. After reaching Mangaluru, he was shocked to see how animals were killed in road accidents. He further told the news website that he also wanted to use these reflective collars on cows too as cows were also frequent victims of road accidents. However, he later decided against it since he thought that it could be misused by perpetrators to identify cattle for meat.

He not only takes care of animals but also treats their injuries. He spends more than 40 – 50% of his salary behind the animal treatment. He further takes help from ACT if the cases pertaining to animal injuries are severe. Last year he was the youngest awardee of ‘Best Street Care and Rescue’ award at India for Animals (IFA).

The Logical Indian appreciates the work taken up by the animal activists. We ask our readers to help the stray animals in various possible ways and reach out to various animal activists who have more resources to help these animals.

Also Read: Dogs Or Cats, Strays Or Pets, Hands That Heal Rescues Abandoned Animals, One Village At A Time