HYDERABAD: It is almost like a whole set of stray dogs in the city are receiving divine blessings every day in the Manikonda area. And there are quite a few that turn up wagging their tails when volunteers from the Association for Animal Shelter and Rescue Aid get ready to serve a daily bowl of milk to nearly 50 to 60 strays.
The milk comes from the Sarada Chandramoulishwara Venkateshwara Devasthanam in Puppalaguda, Manikonda. They donate the milk that is offered by devotees for ‘Abhishekam’ of the deities.
Also locally known as ‘Golden Temple’, the Devasthanam sometime ago joined hands with the animal welfare NGO to make good use of the milk used for ‘Abhishekams’ and according to chief priest Srinivasa Sharma “taking care of animals and serving them is as good as serving God.”
Gowri Vandana, from Shelter and Rescue Aid, said that there was some reluctance when they first approached the temple with the proposal to put the ‘Abhishekam’ milk to good use. She added, “The chief priest made this happen. We started collecting milk at the beginning of this ‘Karthika Maasam’ and are serving the dogs.”
Sharma said “when the dog lovers approached us with this proposal, we welcomed it. If any other organization is willing to take the milk for feeding dogs, they can contact us.”
On a normal day, the temple collects anywhere from 20 to 50 litres of milk and on special occasions, this goes up to 100 litres. The normal footfall, according to Sharma, is around 200 to 300 devotees a day but because of the pandemic, devotees are being requested to avoid visiting the temple in large numbers.
“If more religious institutions come forward and help the needy animals, we can help more animals avoid starvation,” Gowri Vandana said.
