Merces/Chimbel: While cyclone tauktae had caged everyone inside their houses, lawyer Aditi Padiyar was amongst the very few ones who braved the windy weather to continue her mission of feeding the stray dogs. The lady lawyer, along with her husband and scores of other like-minded people, has taken up the task of feeding the canines.

On the day when Tauktae hit Goa, Aditi was out to continue with the mission, which she has embarked upon for the last ten years.

“Come what may, I don’t skip a day to feed these strays. They are voiceless, they can just look at you, they can’t tell you that they are hungry, I can feel their pain,” Aditi told Goanewshub at Merces, where she has been feeding the strays.

She says there is no count of how many of them she feeds. But the affair is regular.

It was ten years back that she started this work of feeding dogs, sterilizing them and also treating them, if they are found to be wounded or in need of medical help.

“I always carry a box of medicine with me in my car. And I have a vet who is on call, who advises me,” she said. Aditi also attends to other strays like Cows on the road, when they require attention.

She turned herself into a vegetarian being an animal lover. She does not serve chicken to the dogs but instead the food that she serves has rice, fish, pedigree, chew sticks, dental sticks and others. Aditi and her friends intend to set up a pup adoption centre somewhere in Merces, and they are on the lookout for land.

“Pups are usually left at the roadside and they get crushed under the vehicles. I want to keep them in a safe place, sterilize them and give them for adoption,” she said.

She further added that Dhyan Foundation helps her to take care of stray cattles while Mandovi Pet’s Vaibhav Gore is ready to help with medicines. Aditi’s husband sponsors her passion of caring for homeless animals.