“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful and uneducated people and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.”
Meet Md Zabi Khan who is a 20 year old Animal Right Activist, Social Entrepreneur, Humane Educator, Founder of – ‘A place to Bark Society’ and a World Record Holder for being the Youngest Animal Right Activist. He is pursuing Bachelor’s in Computer Science from KG Reddy College of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad. He started this noble initiative at an early age of 13 years and by the time he reached 16, he had a registered N.G.O. He has saved over 500+ animals and have rehabilitated around 3000+ animals. Isn’t that amazing? How many of us have even saved one in our entire life? And here comes this young man who has saved thousands.
Let’s know more about this youngest Animal Right Activist down below:
1) Tell us about the origin of your noble initiative and your concern towards the abandoned pets.
It all began when I was 13 years old. I was walking down the street and saw an abandoned German Shepherd puppy. I looked around and inquired but there was no response from the neighborhood. The puppy looked sad and hungry so I took it to my house to look after it. 4 days later the puppy was having a high temperature and I took it to the vet with my dad’s help. The puppy remained dull throughout the day. The next day when I touched him he didn’t respond. He was no more. That day shattered me, and my life had a purpose and meaning now. That’s how it started.
“A place to bark society” was started by Md. Zabi and was registered under the section 3 of society act. They deal with abused/abandoned animals which had a rough start in their lives. They rehabilitate, retrain and re home them in the best families they deserve.
2) How was your initiative accepted and appreciated by your family ?
My family has been the biggest pillar of support. My parents never cut my wings and are always there whenever needed. It is because of their continuous support and motivation that I am able to do what I am doing today and this makes me really happy. This makes me really happy and this is very exciting that people are appreciating my efforts.
3) Did you find it difficult to manage your studies and your initiative together, in a parallel way ?
At first, it began by renting a small place near my house for looking after these abandoned pets. When I joined engineering it was becoming too tedious for me to manage both. Then I thought of proposing an idea of building an animal shelter in the college campus but with many students backing me up, it became possible. My college is now the first animal friendly educational campus.
4) How did the other students in your college helped you out in this cause ?
Md Zabi says, they have created a self sufficient and self-governing system in their college where every student lends his/her support in one or the other way. It could be in terms of taking the dogs for a walk or bathing the pets. In this unique ecosystem, animals can travel in college bus and roam around without any restrictions. They have a group of 35 volunteers who are divide into 7 batches who take care of all the rescued animals in the shelter.
5) Tell us about various adoption drives your N.G.O.,”A place to bark society” organizes ?
Adoption drives are organized every 6 months where we take abandoned puppies to live in their permanent homes. In the recent adoption drive we got 38+ abandoned and orphaned pets to live in their permanent homes. People are coming forward to help these homeless animals and make them feel at home. This initiative is being well perceived by people around the globe and makes me dream a world where no animal dies of abandonment.
6) What kind of support do you expect from the citizens and the Government to strengthen this cause ?
Mahatma Gandhi, once said, “development of a nation can be judged by the way its animals are treated”. There are no strong laws in India regarding animal rights. A person can kill or harm an animal and can easily get away by paying fine. Government should revise the law regarding the same. We expect all the citizens of the world to be humane in the path of life and treat animals as living beings. If people understand their responsibility towards animals and just behave in a humane manner, this world will never see a dog being harmed or left alone homeless.
Click to connect with him on Facebook: Md. Zabi Facebook
