Ever since the coronavirus pandemic started and spread like wildfire around the world, people have been living a lifestyle completely different from before. The COVID-19 outbreak has made personal hygiene a top priority and social distancing a norm. But at the same time, there are many tales of inspiration of how people are extending a generous hand to help out those in dire need and some shocking incidents of sheer horror and insensitivity.
In a bid to keep themselves safe, a shocking amount of people started abandoning their pets with the fear of contracting coronavirus. It is devastating to see many people who are provided with necessary means to take care of themselves even during the lockdown, abandon their pets. But there are some good samaritans who are going out of their way to help stray animals and offer food and shelter to abandoned pets. One such example is of a stranded migrant family, who refused to let go of their pets even during these testing times.
When lost migrants show the way
India's migrant crisis has become a national issue, with immense pressure on state and central governments to act immediately to help the stranded, starved and penniless migrants. A lot of migrants, who failed to get any help, started to walk towards their natives on foot. This has led to many deaths already and sent a shockwave across the nation. Even in such a state, a migrant family was seen carrying their pets, a dog and a duck, as they were pictured on a highway with their luggage.
In the picture, a man can be seen carrying the belongings on the head and a woman is carrying a puppy in one hand and a duck safely inside a cloth bag in another hand. The picture has since gone viral. Parveen Kaswan IFS officer shared the photo from his official Twitter account, which he claimed to have received on WhatsApp. According to a Mumbai-based animal rescuer, the migrant family is walking on the Mumbai-Nasik highway. We could trace the origin of the image back to Getty Images and as Huffington Post reported, the migrant workers were walking with their pets and belongings along the Nasik highway in Maharashtra on May 3.
Plight of migrant workers in India
Ever since the lockdown was announced in March, the migrant workers have been suffering the worst. Although the Centre has arranged the Shramik train services to ferry these stranded daily-wage earners, most of them seemingly could not afford the service.
With hundreds and thousands of stranded migrants, who are starved and left without a penny, are choosing to walk to their native and the tales of their heart-wrenching plights are unfathomable. Recently, a pregnant migrant worker delivered a baby roadside and then walked another 150 kilometers after resting for just two hours. In another similar incident, a pregnant woman was forced to deliver her baby not the road in Telangana's Medak district. There are several incidents involving migrant workers in India.