Stray stories of hope

It was around a year ago when Nishant Pratap decided he had had enough with animal cruelty making headlines. “There are so many instances of animal cruelty — someone chopping ears off a dog, throwing them off a terrace — it was all just brutal!” he recalls. And, that’s how The TellTail Project came into being.

Nishant, along with his wife Sunanda Jayaseelan, and brother-in-law Jayapaul Anand, started The TellTail Project to share heart-warming stories about animals with people on social networking websites. A look at their Facebook page might remind one of the Humans of Bombay or Humans of New York templates, but what sets The TellTail Project apart is that it shares stories of animals — pets and strays — along with heartfelt nuggets often shared by their parents. According to the folks at The TellTail project, there are no owners of animals of the pets and the strays.

“These are real life, honest stories that we intend to share. And, the stories are so heartfelt — you have people talking about their animals like their own children; it is almost like a parent-child relationship,” Anand tells us from Bangalore over a call. As Anand contributes stories from Bengaluru, Nishant and Sunanda, who operate the Facebook page from Mumbai, share voices from within the city.

Nishant, who is a writer and works in advertising, has a theory on why there are so many cases of animal cruelty on the rise. “There are some people who aren’t accustomed to having animals around. They think of them as animals, unlike you and me who think of them as individuals,” he explains. Anand backs him up on this. “There is an unexplained animosity against stray animals. While we can attribute this to the fact that some people haven’t shared quality time with animals, cruelty cannot be explained for,” he says.

Through posts like these, the trio also shares awareness about illegal breeding programs and adopting over buying, when it comes to pets. “People are more interested in the breed of the dog or cat than bringing home a pet,” he says, shaking his head. “People actually abandon their pets in the jungles at Aarey Colony hoping that the leopards will hunt them down. That’s just brutal,” he rues.

In a week’s time, the TellTail Project will be one-year-old, and the experience has been memorable for the trio. “Every story you come across warms you up,” smiles Nishant. “There are people who go out of their ways to make this world a better place for animals. These are true animal lovers, who make a connection with animals and have empathy for them; not the ones who go ‘Aww so sweet’ when they see a special breed on the road,” he says.

To mark a year, they are in the process of launching a campaign that encourages people to adopt animals. “We are applying the Make in India theme to every aspect in our lives; we should do that with our pets as well,” Anand says firmly.

Anand says that caring for pets, in the end, boils down to humanity. “We have met so many people throughout this year. Each one of them is delighted to talk about their animal; be it the strays they take care of or the pets that stay with them in their houses. They are so pleased to share their stories and this is exactly what we wanted to tap in — find humanity,” he smiles.