DogExpress
Furever Friends is a non-profit organization that rescues and provides medical care to stray dogs in Kharar, Chandigarh, Dera Bassi and overall Tricity area. This organization helps helpless stray dogs get required medical care. They also help in fostering them and get them adopted. The man behind Furever Friends is Mr. Vikas Luthra. He has been living in Chandigarh for the past 3.5 years and has been helping stray dogs get the care and attention they need.
Currently, there are over 150+ volunteers working with Furever Friends in the Tricity region. They also run a free of cost 24/7 ambulance service to help stray dogs.
DogExpress has known and worked with Furever Friends since it was known as Happy’s Friends. We always believed in the work they do and their inspiration behind it. So, we decided to cover their story on our website and share it with all of you. Here is a small interview that we did with Mr. Vikas Luthra. Keep reading to know more about Furever Friends and Mr. Luthra…
Question: What was your Inspiration behind Furever Friends?
Answer: Street dogs are “invisible” to most people. They’re equivalent to the trees or stones lying on the pavement. They spend their entire lives without anyone even noticing their existence, let alone showing them some empathy. Somehow, I always could notice them – living in gutters, going on days without food, little puppies hit by children for fun, being run over by vehicles, or just slowly succumbing to their unattended wounds. To help these poor souls, I started by donating to animal welfare NGO’s. But soon I found out that they only misuse the money. One day, there was a dog who had met with an accident in front of my office, and I took him to a government hospital in Panchkula. The doctor there took a total of 5 minutes to decide and put him to sleep!!!
That day I ran out of patience. This hopeless situation for animals had to change, and I needed to do something on my own. So, I started rescuing injured animals; putting them in my car, taking them to good veterinarians, and getting medicines for them. But with my job, I could do very limited work. So I left the job, and started my own business, which allowed me to work at flexible hours and be available for rescue at all times. Slowly, people started calling me for rescues and started working with me for this cause. That’s how Furever Friends started.
Question: How many volunteers work with Furever Friends?
Answer: Over 150+ people are associated with Furever Friends. They are not full time or paid volunteers, but working professionals/students/housewives, who are working in their own capacities to help street animals. We help each other in rescuing animals.
Question: How much does it cost to run this organization?
Answer: I am personally taking care of most of the expenses. Group members take care of their local animal’s expenses and contribute for medicines sometimes. Approximate monthly costs (in Rupees) are – 30K for Petrol, 10K for medicines, Vet visits can range from 10 to 20k, Vehicle maintenance 3K, and vaccinations 10K. This is just the basic cost of running an ambulance. But we’re planning to open a Free Clinic for all stray animals. For this we would need medical equipment donations and cash donations.
Question: What’s in future for Furever Friends?
Answer: Our dream is to build a Hospital which is free for all stray animals, and has compassionate doctors, who do not differentiate between a pet and a stray, and strive for saving lives, rather than making money. We wish to open such a hospital in at least one city, and then expand throughout India, if possible. We also aspire to build a Sanctuary – where the unadoptable, abandoned and disabled animals can live comfortable lives, rather than being put to sleep or left to die.
Question: Your thoughts about DogExpress?
Answer: Posts by DogExpress are both informative and fun. You’re doing a great job at imparting knowledge and entertaining people at the same time.
For more information about Furever Friends visit https://www.facebook.com/fureverfriendschd/. You can also help Furever Friends in their quest to help stray dogs by donating.
Donations accepted through Paytm:
Phone: 7888416969 – Mr.Vikas Luthra
Ambulance Service for stray dogs – You can contact any of these numbers mentioned below to report an incident with stray dogs and get Ambulance Service.
- +91 7307456661
- +91 8427752838
- +91 7888416969
From editor’s desk:
DogExpress has always dreamed of a world where every stray dog gets a forever home. It is heartening to see people like Mr. Vikas and small groups/NGOs coming forward to help stray dogs. We wish all the best to Mr. Vikas Luthra and the whole team of Furever friends for keeping up the good work and continue helping stray dogs in need.
DogExpress also joined the cause to help one of the Furever Friends “Bagheera” get a forever home. We helped to get immediate fostering of this puppy who was going through recovery. We like to offer special thanks to Ms. Aakriti Bhardwaj, who saw the post on our page and came forward to foster the puppies. The puppies are better now and vaccinated as well. As per Aakriti, both Carrie and Bagheera have been adopted and found their forever homes.
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in Chandigarh, India. 
