By Our Staff Reporter
DEHRADUN, 8 Aug: A 21 year old girl from Dehradun came up with the innovative idea of Reflective Collars. Mugdha Khatri is an animal lover who has been feeding and rescuing stary animals since she was 16. Currently, she has 5 rescued dogs in her home. Her mother is her only family. She lost her job due to the Covid 19 pandemic. They don’t have any source of income. But it did not stop her from working for stray animals. During the lockdown, she fed as many as 70-80 dogs daily. She used to prepare the food using soya bean, eggs, rice, dog food, milk and bread. Later, when her savings were exhausted, she requested funds on social media and her friends helped her financially to buy the food for the animals.
Besides feeding, she is providing on the spot treatments to injured dogs and taking seriously injured dogs to the vet.
One day, when she was coming back from feeding animals at around 10 p.m., it was dark on the road. She was riding her scooty and suddenly she observed the reflective sign boards at the side of the road. When her scooty headlight fell on the boards, the boards were shining and clearly visible. This was the moment when she thought of implementing the concept of making collars for stray dogs, abandoned cows, donkeys, mules, etc., who get hit by speeding vehicles at night and lose their lives. With the use of reflective collars, people driving at night can clearly see the dogs crossing the road or cows sitting on the road from afar and act accordingly. These reflective collars will not only save the life of an animal but also save those of humans.
The same night she researched the materials needed to make these reflective collars and, the next day, she bought the raw material and made a few samples. These sample collars served their purpose very well. They reflected the light and were clearly visible from a distance. Everyone in her friends’ circle liked this idea and donated the funds to make more such reflective collars. Mugdha, along with her team members Mayank Maithani, Inderjit Singh and Iram Naaz started making these collars.
After a few days, people across India got to know about this idea and asked Mugdha to send the reflective collars to their places. Now, Mugdha and her team are supplying these reflective collars to Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Indore, Kolkata, Sikkim, Gangtok, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Delhi, Noida and many more places.
They are earning Rs 5-7 on one collar and the entire amount earned from these collars, they are spending on injured dogs’ treatment and feeding.
Mugdha and her team have many innovative ideas for animal welfare but they lack Finance & Public/Government Support. Those who wish can support Mugdha and her team. She has a Facebook/Instagram page named Mugdha Khatri where she has posts about animal feeding, animal treatment, innovative ideas and the work being done by her and her team.
