5 Tips for Taking Care of Stray Animals During Diwali
Want to take care of the strays during Diwali? These tips will tell you how.
For many humans, Diwali is an auspicious and exciting time. But for the animals living in the streets, it can be a very scary and confusing time.
The dogs, cats, birds, cows and goats living outside in the roads and public parks don’t understand what happens during Diwali.
They don’t know why certain objects (firecrackers) are catching fire and creating a lot of smoke. They think that there’s a fire and they get scared.
The loud sounds from the firecrackers also terrify them to no end.
There have been many incidents where stray animals have died out of fear or because some firecrackers burst on them accidentally.
During Diwali, animals suffer due to the carelessness of humans.
But there are a few things that you can do to make sure that the stray animals stay safe during Diwali.
If you want to take care of the stray dogs and other animals living in the neighbourhood, then you can follow these tips for taking care of stray animals during Diwali—
1. Decorate with lights.
Yes, bursting firecrackers is a tradition that has been followed for innumerable years.
However, following traditions and rituals is a personal choice. And you can choose not to burst firecrackers this Diwali.
Instead, decorate your house beautifully with environment-friendly lights and diyas.
This way, you will be preventing a lot of noise pollution and air pollution. Also, the strays living near your house will be a little less scared on Diwali.
2. Choose the right place.
If you are a stickler for traditions and rituals and must burst firecrackers every Diwali, then the least you can do is choose the right place for it.
Make sure that you do not fire off firecrackers near animal shelters or zoos. If you do that, it would scare the animals to no end
Use the firecrackers in your own compound so that none of them gets on the skin of any stray animals.
If there’s no space in your own compound and you want to enjoy the firecrackers on the streets, make sure that there are no animals nearby when you do that.
This way, even if you are not taking care of stray animals during Diwali directly, you would still be doing it passively.
3. Use reflective collars.
Put reflective collars on as many stray animals as you can in your neighbourhood and beyond.
Many stray dogs and cats get hit by cars during Diwali because they are running scared and often don’t see incoming cars.
As a result, they lose their lives or get injured badly.
The reflective collars would help motorists see the dogs or cats from afar and step on the brake on time.
One more thing that you can do is put your phone number on those collars so that if they run around scared or get injured during Diwali, anyone who finds them can call you for assistance.
This way, they can be brought back to their rightful place/ neighbourhood.
When it comes to tips for taking care of stray animals during Diwali, this is perhaps one of the hardest things to do.
However, it is an important step in taking care of stray animals during Diwali.
4. Bring them inside.
Wondering how to take care of stray animals during Diwali? Bringing them inside is a surefire way of keeping them safe.
If it’s possible, keep them inside for a couple of days till the bursting of crackers stops.
If it’s not possible for you to keep them indoors, then you can keep them in your garage, the veranda or a shed.
You can even make temporary shelters for them within your compound so that they have a place to feel safe when the firecrackers start going off.
5. Post-Diwali care.
Like the name suggests, post-Diwali care is something that needs to be done post-Diwali.
After all the celebrations and chaos of Diwali gets over, you can go out in your neighbourhood and check on the strays.
Check if any of the stray animals are hurt. Provide first-aid if you can.
You can even take them to the vet for treatment if they have severe burns or have gotten hurt in an accident.
If you can’t provide treatment to the stray dogs, cats and cows by yourself, then equip yourself with phone numbers of animal shelters and NGOs who help strays.
Call them if needed. They would be glad to help out the stray animals.
In the list of tips for taking care of stray animals during Diwali, post-Diwali care is a very important point to remember.