care for chennai cows - ghoshala requires urgent support
Background
Goh-Samrakshanam is the fore-most duty of astikas. The Indian Institute of Animal Welfare, founded by inspiring Dr. (Miss) Sadhana Rao. Indian Institute of Animal Welfare is a Public Charitable Trust registered in the year 1988.
IIAW in Neelangarai, Chennai and the goshala is in Ventapuram Village with 700 rescued cows and 150 other cattle. They thrive on donations and on a monthly basis are struggling to make ends meet.Â
This campaign looks to support the sustenance of 20 cows on a monthly basis. Adopting the expenses of maintaining a cow on a monthly basis costs ₹2,000 per month. The trust run by senior citizens in Chennai is indeed a sustainer of dharma and deserves our support.Â
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Significance of this cause
Gho-samrakshanam, protection of cows is more a duty than a charity. Mahatma Gandhi aptly summarizes this as follows:
Cow protection is the gift of Hinduism to the world. And Hinduism will live so long as there are Hindus to protect the cow. – Mahatma Gandhi
 To nurture the cow and protect it is punya which will give all benefits. To neglect it is a great sin which will invite curse and there is proof for this. – His Holiness Kanchi Mahaperiyava
Gho-samrakshanam is the act of people coming together to ensure that not a single cow goes to the slaughter house and till their natural death they are given food and are sheltered in hygienic sheds – His Holiness Kanchi Mahaperiyava
The Indian Institute of Animal Welfare houses hundreds of cows including those donated to temples (which are left here for shelter) and cattle used for illegal transport which have been left here for shelter. This trust run by senior citizens and seek support to sustain the goh-shala.
The Indian Institute of animal welfare
Indian Institute of Animal Welfare is a Public Charitable Trust registered in the year 1988. IIAW is also registered with the Animal Board of India. It can be easily called a Senior Animal Care Home because most of their cows are either aged or very sick or infirm or cancer-stricken or a accident-hit. 90% of them have been rescued from slaughter or they have been abandoned and or they have been found on the streets in an injured condition.
Being a Public Charitable Trust IIAW survives only on donations from philanthropists, animal lovers and kind-hearted people among the public.
Dr. (Miss) Sadhana Rao (75) the Managing Trustee, who has sacrificed her entire life to the cause of taking care of the abandoned/accident-hit/cancer- stricken/terminally-ill/aged cows and other cattle. She is an FRCS from London and taken up the cause of caring for the discarded cows and other animals as her life mission. She lives in the same goshala premises at Venkatapuram facility.Â
Dr. Rao, passed away recently.Â
They have a Core Group of committed volunteers who help her in running thisÂ
Their monthly expenses include:
| Cattle Feed   | 7 lakhs |
| Dry Hay        | 6 lakhs |
| Salaries & wages | 5 lakhs |
| Admin exp, medicines, ambulance, office | 2 lakhs |
| Â | Â |
| Total | 20 lakhs  |
In the words of their core committee member Smt. Kamala Ramamurthy,Â
Apart from donations, there is always a shortfall of about Rs. 6 to 7 lakhs which we try to raise through friends, relatives and through social media. Some months we delay paying bills to the suppliers. It is a hand to mouth struggle every month. All prices are on the increase every month.
Details of this campaign
Sustaining a cow on a monthly basis costs ₹2,500 per month. This is a part of the trust’s Caring for Chennai’s cows. As a part of this campaign we request the support of our donors to help sustain 20 cows on a monthly basis.Â
Donors are requested to peruse the website and facebook pages of the trust. Please find the links of the same: