@changemakers
Featuring grassroot stories and initiatives that spark change through upliftment, empowerment and inspiration
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 1:28
Why making a difference is as important as making a living? Dr Mini Vasudevan, CoFounder Humane Animal Society is in conversation.
Everybody wants to own a pet these days, and often exotic breeds and imported breeds. What do you think about this trend? Is this a fad and just that? And also, is it advisable to bring home pets that are not native to the geography one is living in?
Mini Vasudevan
@minivas · 4:47
Thank you so much for having me over. It's a great pleasure to share some of my thoughts on this very important topic. Yes indeed. It's a truly a new trend or something that we see often people who are coming forward and saying that we want a pet and most of the time they are looking for a particular breed. When we ask them why are you looking for a particular breed?
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 0:41
Thank you, Mini, for that very, very insightful response. And I hope pet lovers are tuning in and listening to this response from you and all those things that we need to keep in mind when we decide to adopt a Fur baby. My next question is that you are a telecommunications engineer with a lot of experience in the industry, several patents and inventions to your credit. What motivated you to put all that aside and set up the Human Animal Society in Carmator?
Mini Vasudevan
@minivas · 4:52
I was very deeply disturbed when I was walking around and I could see several hurt, injured, abandoned animals suffering very much on the streets and there wasn't any organized effort in the city at that time. So it was a very deep pain and distress that I felt in my inability to do anything for them that led me to think about starting an organization. What I felt was that should serve as a platform for people like me
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 0:37
Thank you for sharing about your journey. Mini. I think this is a very inspirational story right on. How you actually went about crystallizing your vision for doing something for the welfare of animals. Is there any story that you would like to share with us? You know, over the years is that you have had some stories that have stayed with you. We know that HS is involved in activities that include adoption, rescue, rehabilitation of abandoned and stray animals
Mini Vasudevan
@minivas · 5:00
And I asked around people to know what we could do about this. Everybody said, this is a stray dog. There isn't anything we can do. So I reached out to my vet. I had a veterinarian who used to treat my dog, care for my dog that we had brought back from the US. And he asked me whether I could bring the dog to him
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 0:57
Mini. This is just so inspiration. Thank you for sharing this story. And I think, you know, what we actually need to do is walk the talk, you know, get down, get into action, and do whatever bit we can, you know, in our own way. And I'm sure this must have been paved the way
Mini Vasudevan
@minivas · 4:53
When I say it could be a child, it could be an adult, it could be a senior citizen, it doesn't matter who has offered a platform to do what they can. So in terms of volunteering, when it comes to animals, any skill is useful. It may seem that one has to be on the ground and work with animals to be able to contribute. That's really not true
Sreeja V
@Wordsmith · 0:34
Mini. Thank you for detailing out how volunteers can be helpful. More power to you. More power to the haas. And I hope more and more people are inspired to join hands. And as you rightly said, to connect the dots. You are also vegan and champion of veganism. Do you feel that veganism is fast becoming an integral aspect of animal welfare practices? And do you see large scale adoption of veganism across the world?
Mini Vasudevan
@minivas · 4:52
Whenever I talk about veganism, lots of people make a remark saying that the choice of food is the right of an individual. When your choice of food becomes infringing, or when your choice of food infringes on the right of life of another creature, I think it no longer becomes a choice. So this is the concept of that I think most of us learn as we work with animals. We are just one of the billion species in this world and we really have no right to exploit another creature