Late one Diwali night in Dombivli West, a young college student noticed a frightened dog wandering the streets- wearing a T-shirt and a small tikka on his forehead. It was clear this wasn’t a stray. Troubled by other dogs and visibly anxious, the little one was lost and alone, until a single phone call set in motion a chain of kindness.
“We run a 24×7 helpline because there are no other NGOs in our area, and we often get accident cases late at night,” says Aditi Parameshwaran, Founder & CEO Empathy Unlimited Animal Welfare Foundation. “Around 11–11.30 p.m., we got a call from a college going boy who had spotted the dog. We guided him to bring the baby to our centre. Since we’ve been well-connected in Dombivli’s ecosystem for years, we circulated the post widely, and it eventually reached the dog’s caregivers.
A lot of our rescue credit goes to our Operation’s Head Nisha Tiwadi.”
What unfolded next was a testament to community compassion. The dog, it turned out, belonged to an entire chawl community who had adopted him and cared for him collectively. “When they saw the post, they sent photos as proof of identification and came to pick him up,” says Aditi. “It was heartwarming to see how many people were involved in bringing him home.”
Tracing a lost dog’s family, however, is rarely easy. “You never know where they might be from and Dombivli is a vast, dense area,” she explains. “We recently did a dog census and found an average of 200 to 220 dogs per kilometre of street length. So getting leads is hard because not everyone recognises or cares for the animals around them. In this case, our wide network really helped.”
While Empathy Unlimited regularly handles lost pet cases, most are not simply lost- they are abandoned. “Dogs often go missing because of loud noises or they just run away from home,” says Aditi. “What made this case special is that it wasn’t a pet dog, but a community dog who was deeply loved. He was dressed up for his first Diwali, and everyone in the chawl took care of him. That kind of compassion is rare to see.”
For Aditi and her team, the incident was a welcome reminder of what empathy can look like in action. “It’s very refreshing to see a whole neighbourhood respond to an animal in distress,” she says. “Most of the time, people walk past dogs with large tumours or severe injuries without even glancing at them. But here, people cared enough to act.”
Empathy Unlimited has been working tirelessly in Dombivli and surrounding regions to respond to animal emergencies- often late at night and with limited resources. Through years of grassroots work, they’ve built a local network that makes swift rescues and reunions like this possible.
Aditi also shares practical advice for those who find a lost or injured animal. “The first step is always to secure the animal,” she says. “Even if it’s not friendly, stay nearby and reach out to an NGO. Ask locals if they’ve seen where the dog came from, and check with nearby vets — they might have treated the pet and can help trace the family. If you can, foster the animal temporarily instead of sending it to a crowded shelter.”
She adds, “For injured animals, don’t just take a picture and walk away. If you can’t secure it, call an NGO and wait till the animal is safe. Many times, by the time help arrives, the animal has disappeared.”
Despite the emotional toll that rescue work can take, Aditi says it’s the animals themselves who keep her team going. “It’s honestly very difficult seeing the terrible condition of animals every day — it does take a toll on our mental health. But we remind ourselves that our pain is nothing compared to theirs. We can access resources to recover, but they are completely dependent on us. That helplessness keeps us going.”
In a city where empathy can sometimes feel in short supply, this story from Dombivli stands as a gentle reminder: sometimes, all it takes is one phone call — and a few kind hearts — to bring someone home.
