Coimbatore: Twelve-year-old A Madhav was overjoyed when more than five stray dogs gathered to drink water from a pit that he had dug up in his locality near Kurichi Housing Unit. Children residing in the area had worked hard to set up water pits for stray animals to beat the summer stress.The initiative was the brainchild of G Aarthy, a 34 years-old homemaker. She decided to unite the children in the area, who were busy with their gadgets during the summer vacation.“I love dogs and cats. I work closely with an NGO named Snehalaya and had found a lot of stray dogs in the area roaming around, looking for food and water. Initially, we placed cups of water in various locations, but realised that the cups were either damaged or taken away. So, we decided to set up temporary ponds like the one the forest department creates for wild animals in the forest. We dug up 1sqft deep pits and placed polythene sheets in it so that it could store water,” Aarthy told TOI.Currently they have dug up such pits in two locations - SIDCO Industrial Unit and Kurichi Housing Unit. “We will set up more in other localities in the coming days,” Aarthy said.K Sanjay, a Class VIII student and Aarthy’s neighbour, said he wanted to help her when she came up with the idea. “Now, my friends in other localities also want to join the drive,” he said.Aarthy is not alone in the struggle to ensure the well-being of the voiceless. City-based businessman Ambalal D Shah has been distributing earthen pots to the visitors of the Jain temple in R S Puram. He has given away 125 pots till now. “I saw a news report on television that birds were dying due to lack of water. My wife urged me to do something. For the past two years, we have been placing pots of water on our terrace. But we wanted others to do the same. So, we placed 100 eathern pots in the temple and set up a board announcing that anyone, who wanted to feed the birds water, can take them home. Within eight days, all the pots were taken. We placed another 25 and even those were taken. We will place another 25 soon,” he said.President of environmental NGO Osai K Kalidasan said there was increased awareness among public regarding animals. “A week ago, an auto driver came to our office to handover a myna chick that had fallen from a nest. He had a customer in his auto, but took the effort to come to the office. He said he felt sorry for the bird and wanted me to help it,” he said.

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