Engineer from Bengaluru is father to 735 canines

Bengaluru: Adorable and warm animals which we grow to love after bringing them in as pets, can easily become family for us in a very time.

While being surrounded by dogs in your house is the stuff of a pet lover’s fantasy, an engineer in Bengaluru is actually living the dream as he has a family of not four or five, but a staggering 735 dogs.

As soon as Rajesh Shukla arrives at his large farm just outside the city, the air is filled with sounds of hundreds of barks as Shukla’s beloved canines rejoice the arrival of their father. As the dogs jump around him, Shukla responds with affection.

Rajesh Shukla decided to move to Bengaluru with his wife 10 years back after having lived in Delhi and US, to start his own company. Having travelled the world and done everything money enabled him to, Rajesh decided to get someone to care for.

Shukla started by taking in stray dogs and expensive pedigreed dogs who had outgrown their value as well as those which were abandoned by their owners. Among these were 22 pedigreed dogs whose owner had been shot dead, and many abandoned due to ailments.

The canines are fed 200 kg of chicken and rice everyday on the farm, where they have ample space to run around and ponds to swim in. They are attended by 10 people including trained veterinary assistants who give daily medical attention. All this costs around Rs 50,000 a day, of which 93% is paid by Shukla.

While many complain that so many dogs cause disturbance and activists have demanded access to the farm, Shukla is unfazed and committed to take care of his family.