Vijaya Nair is a hardworking lady who earns her living from a job and not only looks after herself but also takes care of stray animals, she has been a resident of Virar for the past 20 years. She is well known for her love and compassion towards Strays because of which she is entitled as the dog lady.
She got inspired by her mother who used to feed stray animals. Vijaya’s own journey started later on when one day she saw a female dog along with newborn puppies in her society and immediately she started taking care of them but the society was against her still she continued to look after them but unfortunately one morning she found the dead body of the dog and her puppies, she said all of them were poisoned.
She was really shocked after the incident but that didn’t stop her, she connected with another lady who had all the knowledge about the legal stuff and with her help, she filed a complaint against the perpetrators, fought for the dog and got justice for them.
The story that started from Global City in Virar West never came to a stop. Gradually, everyone came to know that there is a lady who cares for the dogs. If any harm comes to the dogs, she does not sit silently and takes immediate legal action.
After that, she connected with other animal lovers/feeders and started learning more and more stuff about animals as in what are the rights of stray animals, how to give them on the spot treatment, what to feed them etc.
She looks after almost 200 dogs in her locality and said that the condition of the dogs in Virar is very critical and she has to fight for them every single day because of different reasons, she has got no family or friends to support her, she does everything by herself, She carries almost 30-40 kgs of food and water in a trolley that was donated by a lady. she said that the dogs are her only family and because of their blessings she gets the courage and energy to do this work.
During the lockdown her condition worsened, she even lost her job but still, nothing stopped her from looking after the stray dogs, she arranged donations and asked for help by posting on social media about her work and providing food for her babies.
Her current daily routine is as follows :
Wakes up at 5 am
Catches a train at 6:30 am to reach her workplace.
Returns back home at around 7:30 pm and starts preparing food for her babies and goes to feed them at around 10:30 or 11:00 pm and comes back at around 3:30 or 4:00 am.
Even after facing uncountable difficulties every single day she said that she feels proud and happy that she dedicated her life to taking care of these honest and loving animals who are her only family and she plans to continue to look after them till the end of her days.
