PetPals is a pet lovers club for the welfare, treatment and feeding of animals in campus. The club was founded by students from PGPEX, PGP, FP and PGCHM programs and few faculty members in Aug 2018. Before PetPals, there were many students working independently in respective hostels with unmatched passion but limited bandwidth. The PetPals umbrella ensures that the work and efforts are streamlined and a common pool of resources like medicines and funds is available. Key Activities of the group; Daily Feeding: Volunteers from all hostels (MDC, LVH, NH, WH, OH and FH) take turns to ensure that all dogs and cats are fed daily. Animal Birth Control: Neutering drives are conducted monthly in collaboration with a local NGO, Love n Care for Animals, to prevent the proliferation of animals on campus. Adoption Drives: The PR Team handling the FB, Insta and Adword account tries throughout the year to find loving & caring homes for the stray animals. The campaigns are treated like live projects by the volunteers to hone their marketing skills. 20+ strays were adopted through our campaigns in the first 6 months. A separate marketing budget is allocated for this. Vaccination Drives: The vaccination drives cover all the dogs in campus against rabies and distemper and thus ensuring a safe environment for all the residents of campus. Medical Care: The group has tied up with multiple veterinary doctors and handlers who come to campus for the medical care of the injured or sick animals. Most recently the group saved a civet’s life by collaborating with the Forest & Wildlife Dept. of West Bengal. Crowd-funding: All the above activities of PetPals are financed through crowd-funding initiatives. The group reaches out to corporates, students, faculty, social media followers, friends and family for raising funds. In the first 6 months we raised Rs 2.8 Lk out of which Rs 2.5 Lk was spent for the activities.
