Friendicoes (SECA) - A little pet journey

Friendicoes (SECA) - A little pet journey

Friendicoes-SECA was founded in New Delhi, India in 1979 by a group of animal lovers, and has worked in the field of animal rescue and rehabilitation for over 30 years. Their dedicated and pioneering efforts have made Friendicoes-SECA a household name in Delhi and NCR. They have a sanctuary for animals in Gurgaon, where they provide a home to all the rescued dogs, cats and other animals that cannot be released back. Every year they attend to over 20,000 animals in need and distress.

Facilities:

CITY SHELTER AND HOSPITAL: The Friendicoes-SECA city shelter and hospital serves the dual purpose of offering temporary shelter as well as treatment and care to animals. The hospital is fully equipped with two operation theatres, a diagnostic path-lab and an X-ray machine. It caters to both stray animals and domestic pets. They operate three round the clock animal ambulances to bring emergent animals to the clinic as promptly as possible.
COUNTRY SANCTUARY: The Friendicoes-SECA Country Sanctuary is a 2-acre plot on the outskirts of Delhi and provides a permanent home to about 700 abused and displaced animals. A clinic and hospital has been added to the sanctuary recently, which provides medical attention and runs a sterilization program for animals in the surrounding villages.

PET CEMENTRY: Their Gurgaon sanctuary offers a pet cementry to animal lovers, where pets can be laid to rest in peace. A memorial stone is put at the burial site in loving memory of their pet. In 2008, 25,000 abused, injured and abandoned animals found refuge at their shelter or were treated and released and each year this number increases. In a day Friendicoes receives over 50 distress calls which bring in dogs with maggot wounds, spinal cord injuries and fractured legs. Puppies and kittens are left on their doorstep in boxes and sacks, old and disabled pets are tied outside their shelter or abandoned in the nearby parks for their volunteers and staff to pick them up. Pedigreed dogs abandoned in their old age are a very common sight at the Friendicoes shelter. Once the animal gets prone to old age ailments or shows aggressive behavior the owner thinks it’s valid for him to dump it at the shelter as the animal has become more of a liability. . At any given time Friendicoes City Shelter has in its care over 200 animals at the City Shelter alone. They provide efficient veterinary care, give them food and love, till they can be re-homed, or sent to live out their lives at their country shelter, while those in great pain, suffering infectious and chronic diseases are mercifully euthanized.


What they do:

SPAYING and NEUTERING: Friendicoes-SECA runs one of the largest sterilization programmes in Delhi and NCR, with over 700 sterilizations every month. They also organize a spay/neuter and vaccination camp for the Municipality of Almora, Uttaranchal at frequent intervals. They have furthered their relief work in Andaman & Nicobar Islands with a spay/neuter and vaccination programme.
EMERGENCY RESCUE: Rescuing animals in distress is at the core of their philosophy. They run three animal ambulances around the clock in Delhi and the NCR to rescue injured and sick and abandoned animals that need immediate attention and shelter.
ADOPTION DRIVE: They champion the Great Indian Dog and the Indian Cat, who are unfortunately discriminated against in their own country. These animals are loyal, obedient and make excellent pets and watchdogs. Friendicoes-SECA strives to create awareness and find homes for these lovely animals.
EQUINE CLINIC: The working equine in India is one of the most abused and neglected creatures. Since its inception in the year 1984, the Friendicoes –SECA Mobile Equine Clinic has attended to all the equines in the brick kilns and Tonga stands of Delhi and its neighbouring states. Today, the Clinic also treats animals in and around Agra in Uttar Pradesh and in the state of Haryana. The equine team also educates owners on how to take care of their animals and help build water troughs.
DISASTER RELIEF: They are the first organization to rush to do relief work at the site of national disasters. Friendicoes-SECA, with support from the sister organization Wildlife S.O.S. has provided food and veterinary care for animals affected by the tsunami in South India and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, as well as by the Gujarat earthquake.

ANDAMAN & NICOBAR PROJECT

At the time when the devastating Tsunami hit India in December 2004, Friendicoes SECA was one of the few animal organizations offering hope and succor to the people and the animals of the Tsunami ravaged areas and islands of Andaman and Nicobar off Southern India. Since then Friendicoes with support from its sister concern Wildlife S.O.S. has continued its silent work in the islands of Andaman & Nicobar where the concept of animal welfare is yet to win many supporters.
Their team there headed by Dr. Gaeta Gladson has been feeding over 158 dogs on Port Blair and Hut bay islands and providing veterinary aid to about 1200 large animals all survivors of the Tsunami that have now been given surrogate owners through Gaeta’s efforts. Dr. Gaeta and her helpers go around in her white Maruti Omni carrying food for these animals on the islands and feed them at different points. Recently the team has started a sterilization and vaccination drive in Neil Island to check the population of stray dogs on the island.
These dogs were caught with the help of two great volunteers Nori and Lucan and taken to the very clean though tiny veterinary clinic on the island where Dr Saravanan and Dr Geeta Gladson on behalf of Friendicoes / Wildlife SOS performed the surgeries along with Dr Vardhan of the Animal Husbandry department. The camp lasted five days and over 300 dogs were sterilized. The boarding of the dogs for post operative care was a huge shed made by Nori and Lucan entirely from waste planks and tin sheets on an old foundation of a school hall. The wonderful weather and very clean air of the islands undoubtedly contributed to the dogs’ quick recovery and most of them were back on the beaches and the huts of the fishermen by the time the team boarded their ship to get back to Port Blair. They hope to cover the island of Port Blair, Little Andaman’s and Hut Bay during the coming year and thanks to Dr Vardhan’s kindness in giving us the use of three rooms in the Animal Husbandry building in Port Blair they hope to set up a proper clinic and target to do twenty dogs a day.
Meanwhile their feeding of the dogs on the streets of Port Blair will go on as also the vaccination of large animals and they hope to hold talks in schools and clubs about kindness to animals as well as explain the concept of spay and neuter and get the public involved in it enthusiastically. That should go a long way to controlling the stray dog population humanely and it will in the long run protect the wildlife as on many of the islands the dogs have turned feral and hunt the wildlife including nesting turtles.

How can you help:

DONATE Whatever you can-at one of their donation boxes, online at their website www.friendicoes.org in person, or by cheque, in favor of FRIENDICOES-SECA. They depend on your generosity to help us in their efforts to provide the best possible facilities for thousands of suffering animals.  You can also donate rice, oatmeal, bread, old newspapers, towels, bed sheets, curtains, clothes, furniture, mattress, mobile phones, computers, medicines.
HELP them by putting up one of their donation boxes at your office/restaurant/club.
VOLUNTEER to assist staff and spend time with the animals at their city shelter.
ADOPT and animal from the shelter or the street.
SPONSOR an animal for Rs. 2000 per month and receive regular updates about his/her well-being along with photographs.
CALL us if you see an animal that requires medical attention.

Our Experience:

Friendicoes - A Society for Eradication of Cruelty to Animals is a charitable organisation whose mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and give better lives to the stray and abandoned animals in the capital.

Our experience visiting the dog shelter was a joyful and happy one. The excitement of being able to see and play with so many dogs under the same roof had us reeling. It was heartwarming to see so many people who were willing to work to help dozens of needy animals. Friendicoes is totally an NGO and making a donation is voluntary.

The moment we entered Friendicoes, we saw a huge number of dogs of varied sizes sitting and strolling outside. This immediately had us busy petting them. There was a definite stench in the area because of the animals, but otherwise it seemed quite clean. The sight of stray dogs in cages, up for adoption, propelled us to make a small donation and help them with basic food supplies.    We also carried waste newspapers with us as the NGO is in need of them constantly.

The Vet's office was a chaos. There were a lot of people with their pets sitting patiently outside the clinic waiting for their turns. The presence of a number of assistants and volunteers was a real relief to the Vet. All in all it was a worthwhile experience and we really wish Friendicoes more support and expansion to an area that is sunny and open.

Bitter Reality:

There is no doubt in the fact that the work that friendicoes has done since its formation is admirable and incomparable. It has been able to achieve success due to the steadfastness of a few animal lovers who came together to change the sorry state of animal welfare in Delhi. This is also due to the resounding response from the ardent animal lovers of Delhi. Apart from the main clinic and shelter in Defence Colony, Frendicoes have established a bigger shelter   which caters to welfare of animals both large and small.

Frendicoes is a private/charitable trust which runs on donations and other such aid. The problems which plague such establishments are the inability to sustain in functioning and dilution of objectives and operations. On our visit to and subsequent correspondence with Frendicoes we noticed that similar problems had crept into their operations too. The main problem that we observed was the lack of proper communication channel and process. An adhocism was evident in the running of the clinic/shelter. There were only two doctors during OPD hours which proved to be inadequate as there were close to fifty patients waiting to be treated.
The shelter in itself was disappointing. Although we were not allowed into the shelter still we could observe that the area was small and the conditions in which the animals were kept not up to the mark.

Although we had sought permission and appointment before visiting, the staff was not welcoming and was not all that cooperative. There was no office bearer or person of any high rank in the clinic/shelter, throughout the duration of our visit. The doctors were busy and could not give time to us to answer any questions we may have.
We were asked to contact an office bearer by the name of Ms. Tandrali Kuli, whose position in the trust is unknown. She was willing to answer questions we may have and requested a mail in this regard. Despite a number of mails and phone calls and text messages from our side, we have till date not got any response from her. Our efforts to establish the working and reporting the admirable activities of the trust were down the drain. This shows that despite the patronage that they enjoy, Friendicoes does not have a clear communication policy and line of communication in place.

It is sad to note that, an organization like friendicoes has gone the way of its predecessors and other existing trusts/institutions. The functioning of the trust shows that operations have become errant due to commercialization. The trust has lost its focus and despite the heavy footfall and coverage they receive, they would do well to set its operation back on track.
Upon talking to pet owners we found that there were mixed feeling with regards to the trust’s operations. Vishal, who brings his Labrador to the clinic, said “that I have been bringing my dog to friendicoes for treatment, ever since its inception.” “Over the years I have observed that that they have become more commercial and there has been a dip in the sincerity with which they treat patients” he said.

Friendicoes is the most popular animal welfare institution in Delhi-NCR. There is no taking away from the work that they carry out, but they must also remember that without a clear communication policy they portray an image of an organization which has succumbed to commercialization.