For the love of dogs: Sneha’s Care … Kathmandu, Nepal

I had been looking forward to visiting Nepal for a long time. In fact since watching the movie Everest a couple of years ago I’ve had a fascination with this beautiful country and majestic mountain. Unfortunately I never made it to Everest as I had planned or to Pokhara and the Anapurna Circuit. I decided to take on an entirely different sort of challenge!

I had always planned to do some volunteering whilst travelling but didn’t really know how to go about it. A friend suggested I checkout Workaway, a website that helps travellers, language learners or anyone at all really to offer their skills in exchange for food and accommodation and the opportunity to experience a different culture. I started looking and immediately came across Sneha’s Care, which seemed perfect for a dog lover like me. If I can’t see Badger then surely cuddles from a few street dogs in wheelchairs will make me feel better…turns out it was so much more than that. 

Sneha’s Care is a Dog Shelter in Bhaisepati, just outside Kathmandu, which takes in injured and vulnerable street dogs as well as rounding up and spaying and neutering healthy dogs in an attempt to slow the population growth. They also educate the local community and promote animal welfare in Nepal. The organisation was founded in 2014 by Sneha Shrestha, an animal lover, who started feeding the local street dogs and taking in animals in need of veterinary care. Before she knew it she had too many animals to keep at home and decided to found the charity in order to continue rescuing the extraordinary number of Nepalese Street Dogs in need.  

Today the shelter looks after over 100 dogs. Any dog who is paralysed or too seriously injured to fend for itself on the street, dogs who are rescued as puppies and those that stay to recuperate longer than three months are offered a home for life. They have a small team including several vets who are assisted by volunteers from around the world for anything from a few hours to a few months but looking after that many dogs as well as performing rescues, operations and educational talks is quite a feat. 

I’m about to be a bit controversial so if you find my opinion offensive then I apologise. I was only ever meant to be at the shelter for a week but they begged me to stay on for the remainder of my time in Nepal as they said I was the hardest working volunteer they had ever had. I always give 100% so I’m pleased that it was so appreciated but having had horses my whole life it was pretty much what I would have expected: lots of scrubbing and shit shovelling! During my two weeks volunteering a surprising number of people came and went; many only lasted a day before handing in the towel. I have to say the majority were vegan “animal lovers” who were too busy cuddling the dogs and instagramming to get down to some proper graft. Many of them feel that you can’t be a true animal lover/advocate and eat meat so I kept my carnivorous tendencies to myself but I genuinely believe that by providing a set of strong hands to scrub, lift, wash, brush, walk and feed the dogs I was able to provide a much more helpful and meaningful service to them.  I’m not saying I didn’t do plenty of cuddling too but I waited until the hard work was done. 

Having listened to the arguments of the vegan activists I’ve met, particularly a nice northern lad who calls himself Skinny Vegan Fitness, I agree that reducing the amount of meat we eat is good for animals and for the environment. I will definitely be eating more vegetarian when I get back to the uk. I will not be giving up meat though. I love my roast beef and bacon sandwiches far too much! I also don’t think that we all have to be vegan to make a difference but that being mindful about what you eat and where it comes from is essential. A bit like reducing the amount of plastic we use, we need to reeducate ourselves and make new, better habits. 

Sneha  and the team at Sneha’s care are seriously inspiring. The lady herself continues to fund the shelter with support from the travel business that she and her husband run, she also gives educational talks and promotes veganism and animal welfare and still manages to find time to go down to the shelter and get her hands dirty! Even with all Sneha’s hard work however there is still a mountain to climb.  They need more volunteers who are prepared to get their hands dirty and more donations to help care for their long term residents. This special place touched my heart and I hope to continue to help them by promoting their cause, donating and hopefully visiting to volunteer again in the future

If you would like to find out more about Sneha’s Care or even better donate then please visit their website. They are also on Facebook and Instagram.