Strays can now have a comfortable stay at this Madh Island centre in Mumbai's Malad West

Located off Versova coast and accessed by roads and a ferry, Madh Island in Malad West lures tourists and nature lovers with its beautiful beaches, lush greenery and many celebrities' bungalows. Recently the ancient island added another attraction: a facility that will warm the cockles of animal lovers' hearts.
This Animal Care Centre tucked away at a quiet, calm plot shelters stray dogs and cats, many of them found in distress and rescued.
Spread over 2500 sqft, the heatproof alloy-roofed facility created by the non-profit This Is Not The End (TINTE) Foundation currently shelters 30 dogs and 15 cats. It has a capacity to keep 60 strays. As we approach the high-roofed facility's secured wire mesh gate, some of the strays, including a black dog, begins barking ferociously and pulling at its leash aggressively. "Don't get scared.They are welcoming you," smiles a caretaker even as another one cleans the floor off fresh dog poop. While the dogs are in enclosures secured by wire mesh, the cats occupy the upper deck of the two-tier enclosures.
We enquire about the man behind the facility, music composer Aashish Rego, and told he is at his office in Andheri West. At his ground floor office we meet, besides Rego, Shreya Prabhu, Sonali Padval and senior veterinary doctor Dr Kamlakar Chaudhari. While Padval and Prabhu are cradling a dog each, a cute furry cat sits on the table. All of them share love for animals and strays and work voluntarily.
Much before they created a small facility for the strays at Amboli, followed by this big facility at Madh, recalls Rego, a series of incidents a decade ago led him to find his "purpose".
Rego recalls that on a Sunday afternoon he took his puppy for a walk. The puppy found a half-dead white bird being pecked by crows. He brought the bird home and tried to nurse it back to health but it did not survive. Next week he found an injured crow. "I stopped going out on Sundays as I feared I would find an injured animal," recalls Rego. Then one day he found a baby squirrel stuck in his kitchen window. He untangled it and the baby's mother came. These incidents led Rego to think deeper.
"I felt that the providence wanted me to do something about the animals in distress. I was already an animal lover, but now I found a purpose," he says.
One and a half years ago, Rego, Prabhu, Padval and Dr Chaudhari joined hands to create a small facility at Amboli, opening the Madh facility last month.
The TINTE Foundation, adds Rego, is supported by many individuals who cares for animals. He appeals to the corporates to use their CSR funds generously for the animal welfare. "We would love to tell the corporates that the way to help humans is through animals. And if you can help animals, you indirectly help mankind. Animals give us the message of 'how to give'," he says." Humanity within us is invoked by serving these animals and the amount of love and affection shown by animals towards humans is just priceless."
Apart from feeding the strays proper, nutritious food, these volunteers also provide sterilization and vaccination to the strays. "We encourage people to adopt the strays," says Padval. For every good healthy pet, there are many strays desperately needing home or shelter.
Rego says India has seven million dogs and 30 million cats. Not all of them are in good condition. Mercifully the new law Bharatiya Niyay Samhita(BNS) is on the side of animal lovers. Now its section 325, replacing IPC 428/429, says: "Whoever commits mischief by killing, poisoning, maiming or rendering useless any animal shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to five years, or with fine, or with both."