In December 2014, three individuals by the name of Robin Singh, Joellen Anderson, and Shivani Bhalla came together to set up an NGO and organic farm called ‘Peepal Farm’. In a conversation with Mahevash Muses, co-founder Robin Singh talks about why he decided to set up the farm, why they are shooting India’s first animal rescue show, and how animal lovers can help.
How did you come up with the idea of Peepal Farm?
The seed for Peepal Farm was sowed around 2011 when I had achieved everything I’d set my eyes on materially and was at a point where I didn’t have to work anymore to sustain my lifestyle. So I was happy, but not content. I didn’t want to die but I didn’t know how to live. It took me a little while to figure out that my existential angst was based on what I chose to call “Suffering Footprint”.
See, in order to live, we need to consume. Consumption requires production, and almost every act of production causes unwanted physical pain to some living being. So apart from becoming mindful of my consumption, I concluded that I HAVE TO spend my life in a way that it helps reduce the pain of others. This is because even to meet my most basic needs, I had to consume something while being fully aware that others had to suffer for it – whether it’s a kid in Bangladesh or a bull in India.
So with the intent of working towards reducing the pain of those who can’t help themselves, we started with helping stray dogs in Auroville and then running a stray dog sterilization program in Delhi. Working in
trenches made us realize that we need a dual prong approach, one that was both short term and long term. The short term approach was helping injured animals heal, and the long term approach was helping them be heard so they don’t get injured in the first place. So that’s when the idea of Peepal Farm came about – a place where we will help animals heal and be heard by involving and inspiring people.
You are the first people in India to make an animal rescue show. What was the motivation behind your YouTube series Humans Helping Animals?
Although only some of us realize that animals feel emotions like love, fear, and sorrow, all of us rationally know that animals feel pain. Still, a lot of our behaviors seem to disregard that information. That is not surprising as most of us act on how we feel, instead of what we know. So we wanted people to “feel” that animals experience pain, and that’s why we started the YouTube series ‘Humans Helping Animals’.
Where do you hope to see Peepal Farm in the next five years?
I don’t know about five years, but in the next few years, I see us running a training facility where we can give vets fresh out of college an opportunity to learn skills and compassion that will help them in the field, and in turn, help the animals under their care.
We also will have a training program for people who want to learn how to make Tofu. Tofu costs half the price of paneer and has a lot of protein and no cholesterol. So it’s great for consumers, for farmers who want to have additional income, and is easier than keeping a cow.
Also, for a cow to get milk, every year a cow has to be impregnated and since farmers have no utility for the calves, most are dumped or starved to death. Both of these are not easy decisions for the farmer. Also, even when the farmer is sick, cows need feed and care every day, unlike Tofu, which they can make at their own convenience.
Apart from volunteering, how can readers support your noble cause?
The worst part about running an animal rescue in India is that we can’t get dogs adopted fast enough to keep up with the rescues that come in, so we then have to say no to some cases as we are beyond capacity. The issue is that although there is a lot of dog ownership in India, a lot of people are still very breed conscious and want to
buy dogs.
Your readers can help by helping us change that mindset, and talk about how adopting a dog is a more responsible and noble thing to do. Not only that, Desi Dogs are much more resilient. They can also, of course, adopt or sponsor a dog at https://peepalfarm.org/adopt.
Also, if someone wants to open their heart to a homeless animal, but for some reason cannot open their home to them, they can always just put out a doormat for them to sleep on in a cold winter night, and a bowl of water on a hot summer day.
If you are an animal lover who wants to do their bit to help Peepal Farm flourish, head to https://peepalfarm.org/ to visit, donate, or volunteer.