Humane Society International/India

With India’s forests fast disappearing, increased incidents of human-wildlife conflict and extinction of wildlife species have become common. In addition, wildlife faces severe cruelties in captivity. HSI/India works toward human–wildlife coexistence that ends cruel practices against captive wildlife. We focus on mitigating human-snake and human-elephant conflicts by creating model programs that can be replicated across India. We also work with partner organizations for olive ridley conservation.

With states across India facing frequent floods and heat waves lately, disaster preparedness and response for animals has become imperative. Our disaster response and relief department works with public and private sectors to include animals in disaster response protocols and make India’s communities disaster-resilient. We have held multiple monsoon preparedness sessions in Kerala and Odisha which are more prone to floods. We are partnered with Telangana, West Bengal and Assam government.

An estimated 80 million street dogs in India suffer because of conflict, starvation, cruelty and ineffective means of controlling their population. A million others are bred in cruel conditions to be sold as pets. In certain parts of India, dogs are illegally transported in a horrific manner, clubbed to death and illegally sold for meat.

HSI/India implements high-volume sterilization and vaccination projects that are integrated with community engagement to humanely manage the street dog population and conflict. We run India’s first mobile animal clinic for easy treatment of street animals. We promote responsible pet ownership and work to end the illegal dog meat trade and the illegal breeding and sale of companion animals.

A staggering 92 billion land animals are slaughtered annually for food globally. This excludes trillions of aquatic animals that are farmed and slaughtered in unimaginable cruel ways. HSI/India forms robust and long-standing pan-India partnerships with corporations, government, culinary institutions and individuals to end intensive confinement of farm animals by capacity-building of stakeholders, reducing and replacing animal-based meals and promoting alternatives to animal products.

An estimated 192 million animals worldwide are experimented on annually. This, however, excludes countries that do not publish any data, including India. HSI/India’s Research and Toxicology department is working to end the archaic use of animals in safety testing and biomedical research. We also work to replace animals in experiments by developing non-animal methodologies. We engage with government, policymakers, corporations and the country’s best scientific minds to make India a more scientifically advanced country to use animals in experimentation.

The Constitution of India makes it fundamental for us to be compassionate toward animals. India has one of the world’s older animal protection laws but suffers from a lack of implementation. To make the animal protection movement sustainable, HSI/India builds the capacity of law enforcement agencies and grassroots nonprofits by building model district programs that aim to transform select districts into models for animal protection. We leverage support from the local administration and communities to improve the implementation of ABC programs, activate the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and provide guidance to the State Animal Welfare Board. We have trained over 850 enforcement officials in West Bengal, Karnataka and Telangana.