For 16 years he has been caring for animals and birds, bearing all the costs himself, from food to medical treatment. Part of every morning is spent with the animals, and he has come to understand the ways of dogs and cats.

He is Gaziul Islam, upper division assistant at the Shaheed Sukhranjan Samaddar Teacher-Student Cultural Centre (TSC) of Rajshahi University (RU).

He said he began working for the campus animals and birds with his own money in 2008. Later some teachers at the university offered help. He does the work out of compassion.

The animals include dogs, cats, shaliks (mynas) and pigeons. There are about 60 dogs and 12 cats on the RU campus. Gaziul has another 14 dogs and about 150 pigeons at home. There are also some myna birds on campus.

Gaziul gets up at 6am, then comes to the TSC and cooks food for the animals. He divides the campus into nine points to feed them: the TSC building, behind the chemistry department, beside the library area, in front of the administration building, the transport market, in front of Motihar Hall, beside the medical centre, beside the university temple and Binodpur gate. He goes to these points every day to hand out the cooked food. Cooking and feeding for 60 dogs and 12 cats takes him three hours.

If he sees a hungry dog or cat on campus, he buys food from a shop. It is not limited to feeding: he also treats sick dogs and cats on a vet's advice. Out of this bond he has named some of the dogs that are fond of him, among them Shefali, Motu, Kali and Fati. When he calls them by name, they come running.

Gaziul said the animals' daily food is khichuri made with rice, beef fat and lentils. Each meal uses 10 kg of rice and 1 kg of beef fat, costing about Tk 700. This comes to Tk 20,000 to 22,000 a month. Half of it comes out of his own pocket, and the other half from teachers' help.

Gaziul told Jago News: "I do this out of love for animals. We have built a bond. When they see my vehicle, they run along behind it. Every day I have to arrange food for 60 to 70 animals. Many people have lent a hand in this work, among them the vice-chancellor Dr Amirul Islam Konok and Parvez Azharul Haque."

Dr Amirul Islam Konok, a teacher in RU's folklore department, said the university's teachers, students, officers and staff are like a family, and the university's animals are part of it. With shops closed in the present situation, things had become hard for the animals, and he has been helping them since then. Just as the balance of the environment must be protected, all animals must be looked after, he said. It is a humane act.

Asked about the donation, the university's vice-chancellor Professor Dr Golam Sabbir Sattar told Jago News that the campus is closed in the present situation, so the campus animals are suffering without food. In the midst of this, Gaziul has stood by the animals, which is a fine example of humanity.

He added that the university may stay closed for some time in the present situation, and he made the donation with the animals on the empty campus in mind. The vice-chancellor believes everyone should come forward to protect animals out of compassion.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.