Yoga Insights and Excites: People For Animals (PFA) second visit

Before I left Toronto to come to India I was inspired to get involved with an organization here in India, with one chapter in Mysore, called PFA (People for Animals). I was introduced to it through Tracy Cox, who worked with them before I got here. They are basically the PETA of India, although India also has PETA. I rallied my friends and family and yoga students to raise some awareness and some funds to bring here and help out. I raised $415 Canadian. That was so amazing to me, to see that others also felt the need to help these sweet animals, and the wonderful people here in India who are devoted to them.

First, I would like to thank everyone involved. If I missed you on this list PLEASE contact me asap and I will add you. I lost my little paper list that I was using to keep track of names. In no particular order:

Debi Woodford

Laura Waters

Cheryl White

Nicole Alexander & Stephen Shaw

John Shin

Doris Baughan

Maria Dennis

Tim Bermingham

Tim Strah

Michael Harris

Yonat Arie

Leorah Marcu & Andy Lucacescu

Eugenia Branchi

Julia Cabral

Dana Lafarga

Elizabeth Allain
Haley Overland

I went last week to check it out and ask personally what they needed the most. I blogged about my first visit. Considering that I saw a cat eating another cat, a good guess was that they needed cat food? They also seemed to have a trillion dogs so I knew they needed dog food. It is puppy season here in India (the native dog only breeds once a year) so I also decided to bring puppy food.

I took a rickshaw yesterday on my own to the pet store that was recommended by PFA on my last visit. We did about 3 circles around the city trying to find the place, even though, of course, the rickshaw driver looked at the name and address of the place before we embarked and assured me he knew where it was. LOL

We got there and they had everything! What a great place! I bought a giant 20kg bag of puppy food. A 15kg bag of adult dog food, and a 12kg bag of cat food as well as four little bags of dog treats. It came to around 9000 rupees (I am including the rickshaw ride), which is approximately $160. I plan to do this same purchase over the next two weeks and visit PFA two more times.

Off we went to PFA. We arrived and all of the doggies came running to the entrance gate with wagging tails. The friendly faces of the workers greeted me as well. A few men came out to carry in the big bags of food. We brought it into the office and they asked me to sign in with my info and what I brought.

Then I took a long slow walk around the premises and visited all of the animals. I saw a dog with a newly amputated leg and a big cone on his head. He seemed surprisingly comfortable. There were other chained up and caged animals, recovering, or being protected for some reason, but the rest just roam around. The pelican who I saw last week with a broken wing was in a bigger area and looking much better. I saw two big pigs this time who I don't think were there last week. The one little guinea pig was still hangin' out in his hay loft. Here are a bunch of pics to warm your heart. Even though there is some suffering there, I was not sad at all while I visited. I knew all of the animals were in the best possible situation. There is so much love and compassion there. PFA is a wonderful place.