DIRECT-IMPACT PROJECTS

---

In December 2019, Voiceless India began working on its upcoming initiative which was the Reflective Collar Drive of 2020. 

Reflective Collars help prevent accidents during the night time and also prevent relocation of stray dogs as the collars indicate that the dog has a caretaker.

We put our initiative out to the Animal Welfare Community in Bangalore and asked them to send it in requisitions for the number of stray dogs in their areas who they would like to collar. 

Although, we had planned to collar 100 dogs for the starters, we received an astounding 1127 requests through various channels of communication- primarily Instagram and Email. As heartening as it was to see the response towards the drive,  it also made us to start looking for a sponsor.

Several Companion Animal Brands showed interest in the drive, however, the warmest response we got was from Heads Up for Tails Foundation. Heads Up for Tails Foundation is the philanthropic wing of Heads Up for Tails which runs various initiatives for the benefit of urban stray animals. 

With an initial commitment to provide 300 collars, Heads Up for Tails increased that to 500 collars and then to 580 collars. Once our sponsor was on board, we started scheduling days to each location along with the collar requirement. We had allocated different locations to each day and were on schedule on almost all of the days with a few exceptions. 

38 volunteers from 38 locations across Bangalore had volunteered to collar the streeties in their areas and we embarked on this journey with their support at each location. 

The drive started on 27th January 2020 and it took us 3 weeks to complete all locations . Our last collaring was done in Sheshadripuram, Bangalore.

Not only did the reflective collar drive make it safer for the stray dogs, it also built a strong and close-nit community of dog lovers in the city, that now lend a helping hand to one another when the need arises. The experiences at each location whether it was the joy on the faces of children while they collared stray dogs in their areas or the relief on the faces of volunteers when they knew that the dogs were now safer than before, are memories that we cherish from this drive. 

A huge thanks to Heads Up for Tails and the volunteers who supported us in executing this drive successfully. 

Stay tuned for another Reflective Collar Drive, until then enjoy the video below :)