Meghavi Patel
Founder and Board Chair
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I was born in India and spent 5 years of my childhood there. My fondest childhood memories include playing with and feeding the street dogs in my neighbourhood. Although my family moved to Canada when I was just a child, I am still very close to my roots.
When I finished my Master’s Degree in 2015, and found a job, I started saving some money aside from each paycheque because I knew I wanted to help animals. I just didn't know how to get started, or exactly what to do. In 2015, I started visiting India and I’ve had the opportunity to visit every year, since then. During my visits, I’ve spent most of my time in India by volunteering at animal shelters and learning about the animal welfare scene. I noticed that most animal shelters are in main cities. When my travels took me outside of these main cities to remote places, I saw injured street animals who were suffering. Upon looking for help, I realized that in rural areas there are no services for these animals. Just by spending a few days in rural Gujarat, I saw 3 extreme cases of the suffering of street animals, which left me in despair. I knew something had to be done. Similarly, when I traveled to Northern parts of Canada, such as Northern Ontario, Manitoba and British Columbia, I was informed about the issue of stray dogs. A lot of strays live on First Nation Reserves, and do not get access to medical care. They face similar issues as animals in rural India. Whether it is India, Canada, or any other country which has stray animals, one thing is for certain: stray animals in rural locations are neglected and lack basic necessary care. Animal Care Zone exists so they do not have to suffer in silence. |
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