For many, 5 PM is a time to finish work and head home, but that’s the time when Shreejana Shahi Thakuri’s day begins. As dusk sets in, she helps two vets clean the wounds of a German Shepherd whose face has been eaten up by maggots. .
“One veterinarian suggested that I euthanise the dog but I don’t think I can do that,” she says as she receives another call. Another wounded dog needs to be rescued.
Thakuri is the founder of Shree’s Animal Rescue Nepal, a dog shelter started two and a half years ago at her house in Baneshwor. What started with a few dogs has now gotten so big that she had to relocate to Dhapakhel, where she looks after over 200 dogs.
Although Thakuri had been fond of dogs from an early age, it was only in 2016 that she realised dogs mean a lot more for her. Her calling came when she found an abandoned dog and she took him to a shelter for treatment. “I asked them to give the dog some vaccines. But when I called the shelter after two weeks, they said that the dog was no more,” she remembers. They told her that the dog died during spaying but I don’t think that happened. “They didn’t bother calling me for updates nor did they tell me he had died. I felt bad which is why I thought about opening a dog shelter myself.”
Of the 200 dogs living in her shelter, most that have been abused, abandoned or are suffering from diseases. Some are missing an eye, others don’t have legs. But without any hesitation, Thakuri looks after them all.
Many would think that the dogs in the shelter would be limited to local breeds. But, the shelter is also home to exotic breeds such as Labradors and Japanese Spitzs, abandoned by their owners. She also looks after dogs involved in hit-and-run cases.
