From 4 to 35,000 Lives: Build Pakistan’s First Sanctuary

I was 24 years old when I came back to Pakistan — not entirely sure what I was doing, only knowing that I had to do something.

I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t have funding. I didn’t even know how to run a shelter. But I knew, with every part of me, that I couldn’t look away from the suffering of animals on our streets. Something was calling me back home. And I answered it.

I never imagined that 12 years later, I would be writing this… asking for your help to build Pakistan’s first animal rescue sanctuary.

Since starting this journey, I’ve had to move the animals four times. Four separate locations — each time forced out because people didn’t want animals near them. Each time came with harassment, rejection, and heartbreak. Each time, I packed up everything and started over.

And finally, I said: Enough.

I made a promise to myself — and to them — that even if it killed me, I would buy them a place of their own. A place where no one could tell them they didn’t belong. A place where they’d never have to be moved again.

Because in this country, the only spaces designated for animals are either zoos, which are prisons, or animal markets, which are worse. There is no place for animals to just be — to feel safe, to feel at peace, to feel home.

This sanctuary is my gift to them.

We’ve now managed to purchase 2.25 acres of beautiful land in Karachi — the seventh largest city in the world, in a country where animal welfare laws still don’t exist, and where millions of animals are abused or left to suffer alone.

But now, for the first time in Pakistan’s history, there is land that belongs to them.

Not rented.

Not temporary.

Bought in their name.

Built for their healing.

Every day, our rescue team answers 20 to 40 emergency calls across the city. To date, we’ve rescued over 35,000 animals, and at any given time, we care for 1,800 of them. And now, for the first time ever, we have a space where they will no longer just be “rescued” — they will be home.

I am asking you — from the deepest part of my soul — to please help us complete this. Help us build a sanctuary that is not just concrete and trees, but a living promise that animals in Pakistan do matter. That they do deserve love, dignity, and peace.

Thank you for walking this road with me. For believing in this impossible dream. For helping us give them the only thing they’ve ever truly wanted — a place to belong.

With all my love and gratitude,

Ayesha Chundrigar

Founder, ACF Animal Rescue