Pratima Devi -”Kutto Wali Amma”

This week on SuperHumans Meet Pratima Devi popularly called the Dog Lady of Delhi or ‘Kutto Wali Amma’, she is a 62-year-old rag picker who takes care of 400 stray dogs

Pratima Devi has been living in south Delhi’s Saket neighborhood for over three decades now. Living in a house made of tin and torn rugs, over 120 dogs stay with her near her home and the rest are scattered across different places in the city. Pratima feeds these dogs thrice a day and also bathes them and takes care of all their medical needs including sterilization and neutering. She picks rags to earn money, a meager of Rs 150 per day on a good day to support the cause.

Pratima hails from Nandigram in West Bengal and was Married at the age of seven. She took solace in feeding and playing with the stray dogs outside her house when her husband would be away on work for long hours, soon this became a passion and the strays her close friends. After she parted ways with her husband years later because of domestic abuse, she moved to Delhi to be with her Elder son. She worked as a domestic help in Delhi and later started a tea-stall near PVR and ran it for more than 25 years. her team became quite famous in the area and bought many customers to her stall daily along with a few jealous neighbors

In 2003 a few neighbors colluded with police who came and burnt her tea stall along with her house. She suffered a lot of burns and a few of the dogs died in the fire. Pratima bought a house in Sangam Vihar where her children stay but she moved away because her children were opposed to having dogs in the house

“Taking care of them is my religion, how I can abandon that asks Pratima”

Once again in October of 2017 Pratima’s house, a shack she built for herself with the help of her son, was razed by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi without any explanation. Pratima didn’t give up and still stays there amidst the ruins of her shack and doesn’t stop feeding and caring for her Dogs.

“I have known more happiness with these dogs than I have ever had in my life, not even with my Husband or children, she said in an interview”.

She has tied up with local organizations like Friendicoes SECA (Society for the Eradication of Cruelty to Animals), an animal shelter in Delhi, to make sure that the dogs remain healthy. Pratima Devi was awarded the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Award in 2009 for showing ‘social courage’.The only worry she has is that she is aging and doesn’t know what will happen to the dogs once she is gone

You can support her cause by signing this petition started by Nivedita Bhattacharya

Watch her story here :Puppy Love: The ‘Dog Lady Of New Delhi’ Cares For 400 Strays