Arts
A true friend to the ‘Cookies’ and ‘Carolinas’ out there
Once on her way home to get ready for a friend’s surprise birthday party, Sahana Ravishankar saw an abandoned cat on the road. Most people would have not given it a second glance or much thought. Not Sahana. She picked up the stray and took it home, missing her friend’s party to look after the animal. “I don’t regret it at all,” she says about the incident.
That is what sets Sahana apart from most other people – her incredible love for animals. Sahana is an Attorney-at-Law and from the time she was 18-years-old she has been picking up strays on her own, getting them vaccinated and finding homes for them. She does this with the help of her friends and whatever money she has she spends caring for them. Facebook is the platform she uses to find homes for her rescued animals.
Sahana now has seven dogs she has rescued with her at home. Unable to find homes for them she brought them home and now takes care of them. One of her dogs, whom she named Cookie was rescued from the Majestic City parking lot. Carolina she found with a very bad fungal infection, but she has nursed her back to health. Another dog, whom she calls Pirate was missing an eye. In addition she has a cat and also feeds two other cats as well.
Every day around 5 p.m., after Sahana’s mother finishes making the special chicken rice, she walks outside her house to feed the neighbourhood strays. At the end of the lane she feeds a mother and daughter dog duo. Crossing the road, she feeds a very timid female dog that lives in a parking lot. She does this every single day, regardless of her schedule – work, exams or any other activity.
But it doesn’t end with finding a home for her rescued animals. Sahana keeps checking up on them even after to make sure they aren’t being mistreated or hurt and she is thus reluctant to send them out of Colombo as she won’t be able to check up on them. This was the case with one of her recently rescued puppies. she gave it to a family whom she thought would be good owners but discovered the puppy was being abused by chance through Facebook and brought it home for the second time. The puppy reunited with its mother and now is with a caring owner who has adopted them both.
Her bond with each of the dogs she feeds or rescues is strong. She tells us of one animal she had been feeding for a long time that had suddenly gone missing. Extremely worried, she searched everywhere to no avail. Some weeks later, she spotted a dog and realised immediately it was the missing one; they both ran toward each other, she says describing her happiness at being reunited with the animal. For Sahana whether she takes a rescued dog home, feeds stray dogs on the street or finds a home for the dog they are all ‘her’ dogs.
Caring about animals is in her DNA. Her mother is also an animal lover and Sahana recalls as a kid of 11, tagging along with her older sister when she was volunteering to help dogs affected by the tsunami. When she turned 18, she began rescuing dogs on her own.
Sahana is happy to note that there are more and more people who want to adopt stray dogs but the negative attitude towards strays still persists. “Sterilization and vaccinations help the stray dog and cat population, but people’s mentality needs to change as well,” she says. Please contact Sahana on 0777567122 if you too would like to help rescue strays.