Animal rights activist headed back to India

High-profile animal activist Sandra Kyle is off to India in February to care for stray animals. The Whanganui resident and part-time music teacher will be travelling to Delhi, Lucknow, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Mumbai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

This will be Sandra’s seventh trip to India, a country she has been interested in since the early 1980s when she trained as a yoga teacher. On former trips, she volunteered as an English teacher with first-generation learners in a community of fisherfolk in Chennai, and helped street children in Goa. She also raised money to buy a communal television and sound system for slum dwellers in Goa, and for a shelter for beggar children.

During her two-month stay, Sandra will be working with individuals and small shelters dedicated to improving the lot of the tens of millions of stray dogs, cats, cows, horses, goats and other animals who have neither a home nor anyone to care for them.

“It’s a real problem. You see them in every city and town, dogs and cows especially, picking around rubbish piles to try to find something to eat,” says Sandra. “Often they are so hungry they ingest plastic that makes them sick. The traffic’s pretty chaotic, and many animals wander onto the roads and sustain injuries. People working with these animals do a marvellous job, but often have little in the way of funds to cover expenses such as food, equipment, medication and veterinary bills. While I am there, I also hope to help raise awareness by talking to groups about what communities can do for the animals in their areas. All India Radio has expressed a desire to interview me, and I hope local TV stations will, too. It will be a very demanding trip for a 74-year-old, but I really want to do it. Compassion should not have borders, and India’s animals are among the most unfortunate in the world.”

Sandra is funding her own trip, and all the money she is raising will go to the shelters. If you would like to make a contribution, the bank details are: 38-9010-0678027-05 in the name of S I Kyle.