Are you an animal lover?
Become a pet foster parent!

The lockdown is the perfect time to indulge ourselves in a hobby — all of us must have pampered ourselves with an indoor activity of interest for pleasure and relaxation during this testing stint. How about pursuing some outdoor unconventional hobbies during this slow unlock phase?

One thing that kept us sane during the lockdown has been our favourite hobby. Either we have been baking delicious cakes and pastries or reading our favourite books on our wishlist. Now as we slowly unlock ourselves let us continue to do things that keep us happy — not just our own selves but let us strive to make others happy by spreading happiness around.

With humans self-isolating and quarantining themselves in their homes due to the lockdown, our forests have been at peace (during) with animals venturing out due to less vehicle movement.

World Animal Day, celebrated on 4 October, is a very important day. It is internationally celebrated to raise awareness about the protection of animals. It is a time to celebrate our relationship with the animals that share our planet and enrich our lives in different ways.

But millions of India’s street animals — monkeys, cows, dogs and cats — have been suffering during the lockdown. They do not have enough food and water to survive as the people who generally feed them cannot move out because of the lockdown. Some stray animal lovers procured special curfew passes to feed stray animals during the lockdown. In places like Mumbai, Jammu and Kashmir, the local administration has been urging people to feed stray animals and birds.

But most of them are still deprived of our love, care, and affection. It’s time to compensate by showing them our compassion and getting into action. Some organizations like the World Animal Protection, Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI), Blue Cross of India and People for Animals (PFA) are encouraging people to come forward as volunteers.

So as we start unlocking ourselves we can still indulge in a hobby — this time as a foster animal parent or volunteer. By volunteering for pet fostering we will be able to provide temporary care to shelter animals till they find a permanent home. Fostering them for a while will help them recover from neglect, abuse, illness, injury and hunger.

Fostering pets and animals is one of the latest entries in the list of hobbies. Being a foster parent means opening our homes to an animal in need. Fostering is an amazing way to help give a second chance to animals that need to survive. Now is the perfect time to foster a pet! Fostering gives dogs and cats the time, love and care they need to find forever homes.

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