Help Pooja become a Veterinarian
Donation protected
Help Pooja Mishra finish her final year of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine at The University of Melbourne, Australia.
The stray dog had no face, literally.
Her skin and the flesh underneath was getting eaten up by maggot worms. Scared of the world, the dog starved while taking succour in the warm rocks behind the slums of Worli Seaface , Mumbai, India. After spotting her, Pooja Mishra an animal welfare activist squatted down and for the next 3 hours patiently removed the maggots off the pariah’s face.
Worried that she may not find her the next day, Pooja took the stray to the Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) shelter to nurse. Day after day for the next 3 months Pooja, along with veterinary doctors and help at the kennel, gently healed her wounds. The dog, named ‘Hope’, though recovered, still looks deformed as she does not have much of a face. A kind French lady has adopted the canine, who now lives in France radiating love and joy to those she meets.
This is just one story of hope that Pooja Mishra has created for the unwanted canines in the island city of Mumbai.
From the filth and squalor of Mumbai’s underbelly, to the Himalayan mountains of Ladakh and Sikkim in India, to nursing animals in Australia - Pooja Mishra has healed back to health innumerable sick, unwanted, and maggot infested animals.
Her love for animals in general, and dogs in particular, is so unconditional, that it defines who she is. When it comes to handling animals Pooja Mishra from Mumbai, India, is blessed with an innate sense of trust and compassion. And for those very reasons Pooja is vegan too. Not by birth but by choice.
During her college years, Pooja spent every Sunday volunteering with WSD, Welfare of Stray Dogs, an animal rescue NGO based in Mumbai. Instead of chilling with friends and family, she dedicated her weekend to giving first aid to stray dogs, vaccinating them against rabies and catching them for sterilization.
Pooja (in red t-shirt) recording details after administering anti-rabies vaccinations to 5 street dogs in Mumbai.
A M.Sc. Gold Medallist in Biotechnology, Pooja was not content working in either a laboratory, or a full time corporate job, which she did a couple of years later. When an opportunity to work full time for animal welfare came along, Pooja took the plunge disregarding financial repercussions.
From volunteering on Sundays, she now worked full time as the On-Field Project Manager with WSD (Welfare of Stray Dogs). She spent the next 10 years providing first aid, shelter, vaccinations against rabies and catching dogs for sterilization. She also assisted surgeries and took charge of the stray animal’s post- operative care. Many days were spent carrying a backpack filled with lifesaving medications to walk miles to treat dogs where they lived on the street.
Please read this beautiful and touching account of working with Pooja and WSD in the Mumbai slums written by UK TV celebrity veterinarian Marc Abraham:
http://www.marcthevet.com/2010/07/mumbai-memoirs-slums-street-dogs/
Abodh Aras (Welfare of Stray Dogs CEO) with Marc the Vet (centre) and Pooja Mishra.
During her stint with WSD, Pooja also volunteered with Vets Beyond Borders , an Australian NGO, that had set-up animal welfare and veterinary training programmes in Ladakh and Sikkim (supported by Brigitte Bardot Foundation). Pooja volunteered an incredible 16 months of her life with these 2 projects between 2008 and 2012. It was here that she felt she needed to equip herself with a professional degree in Veterinary Medicine.
Pooja assisting Vets Beyond Borders volunteer veterinarian Dr Fleur Martin entubate a dog prior to sterilisation surgery in Ladakh.
Pooja caring for Ladakhi street dogs after their sterilisation surgery.
When Pooja went to the admission office of a Veterinary College in India, she was told categorically by a ‘well-meaning’ executive, “You are too old by Indian standards. It’s best you go home, to get married and have children.”
Instances like these did not deter Pooja. She continued to work in animal welfare, looking for opportunities to study formally. Volunteering with Vets Beyond Borders she also realised that the standard of education for Veterinary Science was very advanced in Australia.
With hands-on experience in animal welfare for over a decade, in 2014 Pooja was offered admission to The University of Melbourne to study Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) as an international student. Being an international student it is very difficult for her to manage annual tuition fees of AU$62,080 (in 2017) as well as living expenses.
Her parents and sister took loans and a mortgage on their house. They paid her fees for the first 2 years and a part of the 3rd years fees. The second term fees were paid by Pooja and she did this partly by managing to procure a loan from her current part time employer and by saving up on rent, food and socializing. Pooja went homeless, slept on train platforms, ate just enough to get her through.
Pooja works part-time as a veterinary nurse but the salary is not enough to fund an education.
Her monetary situation is so bad that when she falls sick, she does not go to a doctor as it is expensive in Australia. She also refuses to let her father know as he has already exhausted his resources. Pooja very sadly lost her mother to cancer a couple of months ago and does not want to burden her family any further.
Here is where you can help:
Please help Pooja Mishra complete her 4th and final year and become a Veterinary Surgeon. Her annual tuition fee is $62,080 AUD which is a little over Rs.30, 000, 00/-. This is due to be paid in Febuary 2017.
We, her friends have started a crowd funding account where you are free to contribute an amount that you are comfortable with. Even if it is as small as $20, or Rs.1000/- we would be very grateful. After all, it is the tiny drops that make an ocean.
Helping her become a Veterinary Surgeon doesn’t just mean helping Pooja Mishra. It means helping her continue humanitarian work and our world needs more altruistic and big hearted veterinarians like Pooja.
Here is someone who has selflessly and passionately healed the unwanted and the abandoned for more than a decade. We have complete faith and trust that Pooja will become a compassionate and dedicated veterinarian who will continue to help the stray and neglected animals that do not have a voice.
Your generous donation will empower someone to help those animals that need us most and Pooja will do her upmost to improve animal welfare around the world.
This is a sincere request.
Please Help Pooja Finish Veterinary Science.
And please share this amongst all your animal-loving friends.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Friends of Pooja.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pooja (front row, 4th from left) with amazing volunteers veterinarians and paravets after completing Dr Mark Johnson's wonderful 'Humane Dog Capture' Workshop in Ladakh, India in 2008.
Also present - middle row: Dr Beth McGennisken, Dr Janet Perry, Dr Ruth Pye - previous Vets Beyond Borders project managers.
Pooja with doggy friends in Australia
The stray dog had no face, literally.
Her skin and the flesh underneath was getting eaten up by maggot worms. Scared of the world, the dog starved while taking succour in the warm rocks behind the slums of Worli Seaface , Mumbai, India. After spotting her, Pooja Mishra an animal welfare activist squatted down and for the next 3 hours patiently removed the maggots off the pariah’s face.
Worried that she may not find her the next day, Pooja took the stray to the Welfare of Stray Dogs (WSD) shelter to nurse. Day after day for the next 3 months Pooja, along with veterinary doctors and help at the kennel, gently healed her wounds. The dog, named ‘Hope’, though recovered, still looks deformed as she does not have much of a face. A kind French lady has adopted the canine, who now lives in France radiating love and joy to those she meets.
This is just one story of hope that Pooja Mishra has created for the unwanted canines in the island city of Mumbai.
From the filth and squalor of Mumbai’s underbelly, to the Himalayan mountains of Ladakh and Sikkim in India, to nursing animals in Australia - Pooja Mishra has healed back to health innumerable sick, unwanted, and maggot infested animals.
Her love for animals in general, and dogs in particular, is so unconditional, that it defines who she is. When it comes to handling animals Pooja Mishra from Mumbai, India, is blessed with an innate sense of trust and compassion. And for those very reasons Pooja is vegan too. Not by birth but by choice.
During her college years, Pooja spent every Sunday volunteering with WSD, Welfare of Stray Dogs, an animal rescue NGO based in Mumbai. Instead of chilling with friends and family, she dedicated her weekend to giving first aid to stray dogs, vaccinating them against rabies and catching them for sterilization.
Pooja (in red t-shirt) recording details after administering anti-rabies vaccinations to 5 street dogs in Mumbai. A M.Sc. Gold Medallist in Biotechnology, Pooja was not content working in either a laboratory, or a full time corporate job, which she did a couple of years later. When an opportunity to work full time for animal welfare came along, Pooja took the plunge disregarding financial repercussions.
From volunteering on Sundays, she now worked full time as the On-Field Project Manager with WSD (Welfare of Stray Dogs). She spent the next 10 years providing first aid, shelter, vaccinations against rabies and catching dogs for sterilization. She also assisted surgeries and took charge of the stray animal’s post- operative care. Many days were spent carrying a backpack filled with lifesaving medications to walk miles to treat dogs where they lived on the street.
Please read this beautiful and touching account of working with Pooja and WSD in the Mumbai slums written by UK TV celebrity veterinarian Marc Abraham:
http://www.marcthevet.com/2010/07/mumbai-memoirs-slums-street-dogs/
Abodh Aras (Welfare of Stray Dogs CEO) with Marc the Vet (centre) and Pooja Mishra.During her stint with WSD, Pooja also volunteered with Vets Beyond Borders , an Australian NGO, that had set-up animal welfare and veterinary training programmes in Ladakh and Sikkim (supported by Brigitte Bardot Foundation). Pooja volunteered an incredible 16 months of her life with these 2 projects between 2008 and 2012. It was here that she felt she needed to equip herself with a professional degree in Veterinary Medicine.
Pooja assisting Vets Beyond Borders volunteer veterinarian Dr Fleur Martin entubate a dog prior to sterilisation surgery in Ladakh. Pooja caring for Ladakhi street dogs after their sterilisation surgery. When Pooja went to the admission office of a Veterinary College in India, she was told categorically by a ‘well-meaning’ executive, “You are too old by Indian standards. It’s best you go home, to get married and have children.”
Instances like these did not deter Pooja. She continued to work in animal welfare, looking for opportunities to study formally. Volunteering with Vets Beyond Borders she also realised that the standard of education for Veterinary Science was very advanced in Australia.
With hands-on experience in animal welfare for over a decade, in 2014 Pooja was offered admission to The University of Melbourne to study Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) as an international student. Being an international student it is very difficult for her to manage annual tuition fees of AU$62,080 (in 2017) as well as living expenses.
Her parents and sister took loans and a mortgage on their house. They paid her fees for the first 2 years and a part of the 3rd years fees. The second term fees were paid by Pooja and she did this partly by managing to procure a loan from her current part time employer and by saving up on rent, food and socializing. Pooja went homeless, slept on train platforms, ate just enough to get her through.
Pooja works part-time as a veterinary nurse but the salary is not enough to fund an education.
Her monetary situation is so bad that when she falls sick, she does not go to a doctor as it is expensive in Australia. She also refuses to let her father know as he has already exhausted his resources. Pooja very sadly lost her mother to cancer a couple of months ago and does not want to burden her family any further.
Here is where you can help:
Please help Pooja Mishra complete her 4th and final year and become a Veterinary Surgeon. Her annual tuition fee is $62,080 AUD which is a little over Rs.30, 000, 00/-. This is due to be paid in Febuary 2017.
We, her friends have started a crowd funding account where you are free to contribute an amount that you are comfortable with. Even if it is as small as $20, or Rs.1000/- we would be very grateful. After all, it is the tiny drops that make an ocean.
Helping her become a Veterinary Surgeon doesn’t just mean helping Pooja Mishra. It means helping her continue humanitarian work and our world needs more altruistic and big hearted veterinarians like Pooja.
Here is someone who has selflessly and passionately healed the unwanted and the abandoned for more than a decade. We have complete faith and trust that Pooja will become a compassionate and dedicated veterinarian who will continue to help the stray and neglected animals that do not have a voice.
Your generous donation will empower someone to help those animals that need us most and Pooja will do her upmost to improve animal welfare around the world.
This is a sincere request.
Please Help Pooja Finish Veterinary Science.
And please share this amongst all your animal-loving friends.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Friends of Pooja.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pooja (front row, 4th from left) with amazing volunteers veterinarians and paravets after completing Dr Mark Johnson's wonderful 'Humane Dog Capture' Workshop in Ladakh, India in 2008. Also present - middle row: Dr Beth McGennisken, Dr Janet Perry, Dr Ruth Pye - previous Vets Beyond Borders project managers.
Pooja with doggy friends in AustraliaOrganizer
Beth McGennisken
Organizer
Victoria, VIC