We know our barking startles you. Sometimes we chase vehicles or lunge at strangers. To many, we’re seen as a nuisance, or worse, a threat. But please try to understand us too.
We didn’t choose this life. We were born on the streets, in back alleys, under rusted cars, beside overflowing drains. We grew up without comfort, without regular food, without a loving hand. Hunger, pain, and neglect have been our only companions. We don’t know what it feels like to have a name, or a collar, or a place to call home.
So when we bark, it’s not out of hatred. It’s fear. It’s defense. It’s instinct. It’s our way of protecting the only things we know our pups, our scraps of food, our fragile space in a harsh world.
But let’s break a myth, we are not born aggressive. No one is. What you see is the result of trauma, not temperament. Survival has hardened us, but it hasn’t erased our capacity to love, to trust, to hope.
And we do change, when kindness finds us.
A bowl of food, a soft blanket in the rain, a voice that doesn’t shout, these tiny gestures have transformed many of us. Strays once feared and avoided are now loyal companions because someone, somewhere, gave us a chance. A moment of compassion can rewrite our story.
This is why we’re pleading not for pity, but for empathy. Support Animal Birth Control (ABC) programs, participate in feeding drives, advocate for rescue and rehabilitation.
These efforts not only protect us, they make your neighborhoods safer, more harmonious places. Fewer conflicts, fewer bite cases, fewer scared animals and scared humans. We don’t want to live in fear any more than you want to walk in it.
Some of us have already found angels the feeders, the rescuers, the vets, the volunteers. To them, we are not “strays.” We are Chotu, Moti, Blacky, Laila, individuals with feelings, stories, and silent gratitude. And to you, we ask, see us the same way. Not as snarling shadows, but as lives waiting to be seen, soothed, and saved.
One day, we hope you’ll stop crossing the road when you see us. One day, we hope you’ll meet our eyes not with fear, but with understanding.
Until then, we’ll wait, with paws full of hope.
By Shraddha Rai (Alisha). She is a member of PFA Sikkim and can be contacted at ar088638@gmail.com
