Providing services for the furred and the
four-legged finds favor with several animal lovers
Farrokh Jijina
The community’s abiding love for domestic animals harks back to ancient times. Chom-e shwa (meal for the dog) in Persian or kutra-no buk (morsel for the dog) in Gujarati reflects the custom prevalent in Zoroastrian households of yore to feed their canine friends before appeasing the human appetite. "The cow and the dog…both came, not only to share their ordinary lives, but also to have part in their religious beliefs and practices which in due course became part of the heritage of Zoroastrianism,” explained Prof Mary Boyce in A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism.
This is manifest in the animal shelters, pet stores, grooming services and even residential kennels created for the purpose. Many have made it their lifelong preoccupation.
All the seven animal lovers Parsiana spoke to between November 2021 and January 2022 showed a doggedness of purpose in wanting to make a better life for their four-legged charges. Parsiana interviewed Roxanne Davur whose facility, Probably Paradise, houses 500 animals in need of care; Genevieve Dubash who runs the Animal Welfare and Rescue Efforts (AWARE) Foundation; Pearl Jamshedwala who rescues and shelters strays; Maazie Dallas who runs a pet shop, Abby’s Magic in Churchgate; Meherzad Dhanbhoora who owns and operates a pet accessories and pet food outlet Fur Bar; Shyamax Presswalla who founded and manages the Bark Group for a "full range of pet services;” and canine trainer and groomer Jennifer Tavadia who operates the salon, Curly Tails.
Clockwise from top left: Roxanne Davur, Genevieve Dubash,
Shyamax Presswalla, Maazie Dallas, Jennifer Tavadia, Meherzad Dhanbhoora
with Priyanka Balaporia and Pearl Jamshedwala
Davur, who runs the one-and-a-half acre Probably Paradise, situated 11 km outside Karjat, north of Bombay, calls her facility a "shelter for the unloved and unwanted.” "There are no pets here…all are my co-residents,” she told Parsiana. Currently providing a home to about 500 animals that include besides canines and felines, ponies, donkeys, horses, pigs and cows, the bubbly senior citizen says, "I’ve always (cared for animals)...it was even prophesied,” she jokes. Most of the residents are rescues from Bombay and Poona, victims of injury or abandonment or illness. "This shelter home for unwanted animals has the unique purpose of giving them a dignified place to die,” Davur told online newsmagazine, thebetterindia. She slowly started building the shelter "but still have more work to do today,” referring to the building of one more cattery and another block of stables.
Davur is livid about the "keep and throw” attitude of humans towards pets. Expecting a fair number of abandonments in the near future, the sexagenarian says, "How can one dump a pet saying that my child is not studying/taking care? How can a two-month-old pup teach a child responsibility if a parent does not or cannot?”
Dubash states it is her mission to have a permanent, clean, safe home for every disabled/abandoned/rescued/unadoptable animal under her care. Her AWARE Foundation, established in 2014, has been actively working in the sphere of stray animals. "Our initiatives include feeding of stray animals, veterinary first aid, trauma care, spay/neuter and immunization against rabies and other infectious diseases,” noted a write up from her. "Our Ashram in Tansa Forest, Ganeshpuri, (approximately 70 kms from Bombay) is a haven for about 40 canines and an equal number of felines who have endured the worst experiences in the harsh city streets,” she notes. AWARE strives to make a difference in the quality of the lives of its resident animals and also in the surrounding hamlets. They provide food and medical care for stray animals in rural Ganeshpuri and Bombay, she told us on January 3, 2022. Activities of the Ashram include care for animals suffering with terminal and genetic conditions.
The managing trustee and president of AWARE said she has been feeding and caring for animals all her life. "It is not about what you are giving an animal in dire need… It is what you receive… Unconditional love… All my years of caring for animals has helped me evolve as a person with patience, perseverance, trust, peace and forgiveness… Most importantly, the survival instinct, surviving all odds.”
Top l: Care for the four-legged at Probably Paradise;
r: at AWARE Foundation;
above: Jamshedwala feeding a kitten
Clockwise from top right:pet products at Abby’s Magic;
fun time at The Bark Tub; air-conditioned enclosures for pets at The Bark Club, Sewri
Thana based Jamshedwala has been sheltering animals since she was nine years old, she shared with us. "I would get injured animals home and support them with my pocket money, help them get adopted or find a permanent shelter.” At her house-help’s home in Kalwa, she has currently sheltered three handicapped canines, one with rickets, an injured 18-year-old and an abandoned pup of three months. "People leave their cats at our doorstep and never return… I had one such case three months ago… It turned out that the feline had breast cancer… I am still sheltering her…one procedure has been done… She is still undergoing treatment.” Jamshedwala told us she estimates she would have rescued "nearly 175 animals so far.” Also retailing pet products by way of word-of-mouth, she plans to start a course in animal grooming with Curly Tails this January.
"With a purpose”
Some of the pet carers and minders Parsiana spoke to may have recently begun their professional animal care journey, but all of them seem to be believers in poet and journalist Anatole France’s adage: "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”
"Animals come into our lives with a purpose… helping animals should be everyone’s religion not only the prerogative of Zoroastrians…And why do we Indians treat only cows as holy?” asks Dallas who opened, in July 2021, Abby’s Magic, a 180 sq ft pet supplies shop (with a small mezzanine) in Churchgate. "It is my way of remembering my Labrador whose favorite thing to do was to visit pet stores,” she told Parsiana on November 3. Dallas’s outlet is one of at least four facilities that opened their doors in the last year or so, offering pet care services.
Dallas, parent to a rescued Labrador named Lady Lyka, says that she selects products that are tried and tested, ranging "from beds and mats to collars and shampoos and the tastiest treats, straight from the international market.” The store "is gaining traction…business needs to pick up,” she stated. Dallas started selling products online in July 2020. "So the store was a logical extension.” A qualified animal assisted therapy practitioner from the Animal Behavior Institute in North Carolina, USA, Dallas founded Doggie Helpline, among the city’s first 24-hour animal rescue services, in 1996. "We rescued all manners of strays — horses, donkeys and cows. Ambulance services in the city then operated only during the day time… Animals get hurt any time.” The service was discontinued a few years ago. "After so many years you get tired and burnt out,” Dallas said.
Less than 200 m away from Abby’s Magic stands Fur Bar, a two-month-old pet shop run by Dhanbhoora and his girlfriend Priyanka Balaporia. "We also provide grooming services,” he told us on November 5. Fur Bar intends to stock medicines for animals in the near future. The closest pet chemist is about three kms away, Dhanbhoora told us. Footfalls at Fur Bar are low. "Some days we have no customers,” he says about the 400 sq ft store that also has a mezzanine level. They are attempting to popularize their services via social media and pamphlets. "A website will be up shortly,” said Dhanbhoora who studied dog training with canine behaviorist Shirin Merchant. Future plans include day boarding of pets for working parents, and possibly facilities for their X-rays and blood tests. "As of now I only want to get the store doing well, though,” he said.
"Many people got laid off during the pandemic…Many acquired pets to keep them company…It was a nice time to get a pet.” This is Dhanbhoora’s premise for the spurt in pet care products and services. He admits he has done no in-depth survey of the market. An April 30, 2020 report in the Financial Express put the pet food market in India at Rs 2,284 crores. Quoting an international research agency, Euromonitor International, the paper stated that "estimates show that the pet food market is growing at about 13-15% annually, with only 10-12% household penetration.”
Presswalla, who started his pet boarding facility the Bark Club in 6,500 sq ft of space in Sewri in 2016 does not agree that more people veering towards being pet parents is a recent phenomenon. "I have been seeing this trend for the last decade,” he told us. The uniqueness of the Bark Group that comprises the Club, The Bark Traveller (established in 2019 for pet relocations) and The Bark Tub (2021) for grooming services is that they are the only facility that provides all three services, says Presswalla. A café for pets is on the cards, he told us. The Sewri facility includes a 2,500 sq ft secured indoor play area with 21 glass air-conditioned rooms in different configurations for pets. With live camera access to the Club, pet parents can watch their wards from any part of the world, he said.
Presswalla, who personally is a parent to 11 canine "sons,” as he describes them, shared with Parsiana the complexities of the pet relocation service. Some countries require "migrating” pets to be groomed in specific ways; some require the pet to travel with a handler; some require the pet parent to be relocated in the end country in advance. "We can handle all such complexities,” he said. The Bark Group permits children to come and familiarize themselves with the complexities of keeping pets. They also "lease out” their dogs to professional service companies like law firms and accountants, when their human resource departments want to provide "fun days.” Individuals too avail of this service to get familiar with the idea of keeping pets. "I had someone borrow a Dalmatian because he wanted it around when he proposed to his girlfriend,” he told us. The commerce graduate who worked in an aviation company for 10 years said he "always wanted to do something with animals…I just wanted enough capital to be able to set this up independently.”
Groomer Tavadia who opened her salon Curly Tails two-and-a-half years ago said she groomed 82 animals over the four-day Diwali season that ended November 5. An erstwhile trainer who found canine training "stagnant,” Tavadia says one needs to be very patient and compassionate to be a good groomer. Thinking of expanding into pet food retailing, she stated that she is looking to acquire the neighboring outlet to expand. Tavadia said she tells her staff that having done a course in animal behavior makes one a better groomer. "If I know for instance that a pet is nervous or is afraid of being blow dried, I can get the parent to work with an animal behaviorist.”
There are several in the communiy who are involved with canines and other animals including Diana Ratnagar who started the India chapter of Beauty Without Cruelty to fight for the rights of animals; Daisy Sidhwa, a trustee of The Welfare of Stray Dogs founded by Abodh Aras, Padmini Stump (née Irani) whose nongovernmental organization, Mission Possible, is committed to making healthcare available for homeless dogs and cats in Poona. There are also numerous individuals and groups who feed strays in and around Bombay. Parsiana’s coverage of such individuals is not exhaustive but representative of those who have devoted their life to care for animals.
E-mail contacts:
Roxanne Davur: terraanima@gmail.com; Genevieve Dubash: gdubash@gmail.com; Pearl Jamshedwala: pjamshedwala@gmail.com; Maazie Dallas: maazie16@gmail.com; Meherzad Dhanbhoora: meherzad1509@gmail.com; Shyamax Presswalla: shyamax@maxgroupco.in; Jennifer Tavadia: curlytails@gmail.com