There are more than 35 million stray dogs wandering the streets of India.
These dogs have no homes or access to food or water. Animals aren’t valued as pets the same way there as they are in places like the United States, and those who help stray animals sometimes face violence and resistance for their efforts. In spite of this attitude, Anoushka Mehta has been helping homeless pets for the past eight years.
Anoushka was just 18 years old when she started a grassroots charity called The Modern Mowgli. Her story began when she walked through the streets of Delhi and noticed hundreds of starving dogs, some of which were injured and receiving no medical care. She couldn’t stand seeing them go hungry, so she started feeding a few of them. The next day, there were more dogs waiting for her, and her efforts snowballed from there.
Five years later, Anoushka and a team of six other volunteers rise at dawn to mix up food for more than 200 dogs!
“Some people have this mindset that if you feed stray dogs, they’re going to stay there, they are going to live there. It’s going to be difficult for kids or elderly to walk those streets,” Anoushka said. “However, that’s not true.”
Anoushka explained that these animals have lived in a stressed-out state for so long, they have no idea what to do when a human shows them kindness.
“For animals to constantly be in this state where they are in fight versus flight mode, and it’s very terrifying to live that way for the rest of their life,” she said. “Sometimes they’re like, growling or bearing their teeth, but it’s not like they have something against you. It’s just their body’s response because they feel like danger is approaching them because they’ve never known love.”
As The Modern Mowgli grew, Anoushka began sharing pictures of the dogs she cares for on social media. These images started going viral, and before she knew it, she was arranging for adoptions all over the world! So far she has found homes for more than 100 dogs in the United States and Canada, as well as across India.
American Rachael Strogoff follows The Modern Mowgli on social media. When she spotted a pair of yellow dogs with cheerful faces, she felt “drawn to them” from afar. She actually arranged to fly overseas to get the dogs, and now they’re living their happiest lives ever with her in the States.
“I want people to see that these dogs are really valued,” said Rachael. “They were worth flying to a different country to pick up.”
With more volunteers, donations, and resources at her disposal, Anoushka opened a physical shelter in Delhi to provide medical care and adoption facilities for dogs. Anoushka is now 25 and has completed her education, but she has no plans to stop helping animals any time soon.
“I get to live my dreams and serve my purpose with the help of you all,” she wrote on Instagram. “I wish I could explain the happiness I feel in my bones when I watch a hungry animal eat or a sick animal ease in my arms.”
Anoushka took action when no one else would. Two hundred dogs may seem like a drop in the bucket when faced with millions of stray animals, but if we all fed a few, imagine what could happen!
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