In the past two months lakhs of migrant workers have taken the difficult challenge of heading back to their homes on foot. Tired, exhausted and hungry, we have seen all kinds of heart-wrenching pics from their exodus on the Internet.
But as they say, every cloud has a silver lining. Despite fears that animals could spread coronavirus, many of these migrant workers gave us lessons in humanity by not abandoning their pet animals. They decided to take their pets along as they travelled miles and miles.
1. These migrant workers were spotted walking with their pets on Mumbai-Nashik highway. They refused to abandon their pets at any cost.
This is a family of migrant worker. They are walking on the Mumbai Nasik Highway along with their belongings. So next time when you think to give up your pet whom you "loved like your own child" just remember this pic pic.twitter.com/RSlCdjOZEd
— Navin Nadar (@navin_nadar) May 12, 2020
2. This exhausted migrant worker was spotted carrying her pet dog on her shoulders, because it apparently “gets tired very soon”.
Labour walking home.
— Fragrantwhirlwind (@WickedWitch74) May 18, 2020
Says, ” This one gets tired very soon. He lives with me….couldn’t have left him.” Had been walking for 2 days pic.twitter.com/QgvFPTZkPd
3. This migrant family was spotted travelling from Panipat to Bundelkhand on a makeshift vehicle with their pet dog, Tommy.
They had adopted this street dog in 2018, when it was 40 days old and decided to undertake a 700-km long journey taking him along. Kumar, head of the family, who worked as a street vendor in Panipat, said:
His mother had delivered a litter of puppies and he (Mr Tommy) used to keep coming to our house and nibbled on food and drank water. Since then he has become part of our family and we adopted him.
4. This migrant family was spotted heading towards Anand Vihar ISBT in Delhi with their pet dog.
@jhasushant @rajivjournalist @manjit2007 a migrant labour family perhaps heading towards anand vihar ISBT with their belongings and a pet PUG. pic.twitter.com/eRvsEwWDNN
— scorpio682 (@sourabhdaga82) May 16, 2020
5. This woman stopped on her way in Gurugram to give water to her pet rabbit in scorching heat.
India’s #migrantworkers are full of heart. Here’s a #woman who stopped in #Gurugram to give her #rabbit water in this scorching #heat— having walked from Chhattarpur, and with a journey ahead to #Ranchi. Photo by @yogeshkumar9810 for @htTweets. #animallove #photojournalism #news pic.twitter.com/qt4eWJOYOc
— Paroma Mukherjee (@ParomaMukherjee) May 19, 2020
6. This woman was spotted aboard a Shramik Special train with her pet dog.
Another lovely photograph of a woman from #Manipur heading home with her #puppy aboard a ‘Shramik Special’ #train in Dehradun. Courtesy PTI. #india #news #photography #ShramikSpecialTrains pic.twitter.com/kNW2ktucxC
— Paroma Mukherjee (@ParomaMukherjee) May 19, 2020
7. This family of migrants was spotted walking with their pets on a highway in Kolkata.
#MigrantsOnTheRoad A migrant family of Bhumbhum Mattukarar on foot with their belongings, roosters and pet Kasturi headed to Nellore. Panchetty. Kolkata Highway. Thiruvallur. @tmkrishna @kavita_krishnan @iamdatemike pic.twitter.com/Sm7MeUtJKv
— NityanandJayaraman (@NityJayaraman) May 14, 2020
In the face of all adversities, they could have chosen the most convenient option of leaving their pets behind, but they did not.
