Our team at IDA India has been serving vulnerable animals in their community for just over 25 years. While there have been many changes during this time, plans to build a much-needed crematorium at our Deonar Center in Mumbai is one of the latest that affects our work in India.

In 2019, the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) made the decision to acquire 30% of our Deonar Center to construct a gas-based crematorium for small animals. Even though it meant destroying facilities that we put great care into building over the years, we agreed because this was something we had lobbied for and that was very much needed in our city.

Our intensive care unit, isolation ward, and several kennels were quickly demolished, and the MCGM further decided to make the crematorium even bigger to accommodate large animals. This would have meant us losing 50% of our center, and we couldn’t let that happen.

Our Deonar Center is the largest facility working in Mumbai to help dogs and cats, and we are often their only hope. We typically have around 450 dogs and 150 cats admitted at any given time, and the proposed change would have meant we would have to severely limit our services.

In 2021, we petitioned the High Court of Bombay to stop the larger crematorium and successfully stopped further demolition of our center.

We also feared we would lose something very special to us that generous supporters helped build: the garden our blind residents love to enjoy. This special place is attached to our blind ward and offers our special-needs residents an enriching space to relax and enjoy the fresh air, lay in the sun, or enjoy the shade under the pergola.

While we await an outcome on what the final plan for the crematorium will be and further construction, we’re relieved we’re still able to provide desperately needed services to animals, and that so far our blind garden hasn’t been lost.

You can help support our work to provide services to as many animals as we can by making a donation.