Her quiet work speaks for her
I look after more than 400 dogs. About 200 stay near my shelter, and the rest are spread across the PVR complex and nearby lanes. They are vaccinated, sterilised, and they don’t harm anyone.”- Pratima

Every evening, she feeds them using food collected from civic vans and donations. Milk, rice, stew, and sometimes meat. She nurses injured dogs herself, tending to wounds from road accidents, burns, and neglect. Over the years, her quiet work has earned the respect of many neighbours, some of whom contribute whatever they can to help feed the dogs.

Shopkeeper to ragpicker, yet compassion stayed alive
Pratima Devi has nothing to call her own except compassion. Married at just seven, a mother of three by 18, and trapped in an abusive marriage, her life was shaped by hardship early on. When the violence became unbearable, she fled her home and survived on odd jobs. Eventually, life brought her to Delhi, where she opened a small tea stall. This stall would become the starting point of a lifelong mission to protect those no one else wanted.

It started with seven odd dogs around the shop. Some were injured, and some were abandoned pets left to die. I just couldn’t leave them like that, so I started sheltering them where I live.  When 7 dogs became 200, I don’t know but serving them gives me immense happiness. Hardships took away my livelihood and my shop, but how could I stop caring for them? So, I picked up a sack and started ragpicking. Something to keep us all going.” - Pratima Devi

Shelter At Risk, An Urgent Need
The dogs she protects live in a makeshift shelter built on government land that is now being cleared. If the shelter is dismantled, many of these dogs will be forced back onto the streets. Injured, disabled, and elderly dogs rarely survive outside. For them, this shelter is not temporary. It is the only home they have ever known.

“I am old, but my fear is not for myself,” Pratima Devi says. “If this place goes, where will my dogs go?”

A permanent shelter would protect these dogs from eviction, allow proper medical care, and give them safety and dignity. It would also ensure that Pratima Devi does not have to watch years of compassion erased overnight

Your support can help relocate these dogs and build a forever home where they are protected, cared for, and safe.

Donate now to help Pratima Devi protect over 400 lives that depend on her every single day.