Shiela Rao

Founder

Founder of CUPA - Compassion Unlimited Plus Action · Founder of Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO)

Shiela Rao is the founding trustee of CUPA - Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (1991)[1] and Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO)[2], Indian non-profits working on animals from Bengaluru.

Shiela Rao is an Indian veterinarian and one of the three founding trustees of Compassion Unlimited Plus Action (CUPA), an animal welfare organisation established in Bangalore in October 1991 with Crystal Rogers and Suparna Baksi Ganguly.

CUPA runs seven centres in Bangalore providing veterinary treatment for community animals, sterilisation, adoption, rescue and rehabilitation of large working animals such as cattle, horses and donkeys, and a retirement home for blind and elderly dogs.

Career

Rao is a graduate of the Veterinary College in Bangalore and has been a trustee of CUPA since its founding in 1991.

She has identified the sterilisation of street dogs as CUPA's most significant work. The organisation campaigned successfully for the closure of Bangalore's dog electrocution centre and began a birth-control programme for street dogs before animal birth control was required by law. In its early years CUPA also produced booklets in Kannada and English explaining section 11 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, to make the law on cruelty better known.

With Suparna Ganguly she worked on the research and documentation behind a petition to the Supreme Court of India concerning captive elephants.

She also chairs an independent ethics committee that reviews protocols for human clinical trials.

Recognition

Rao received a Special Achievement Award from the Karnataka Veterinary Association in 2016 for her work in animal welfare and social service.[3][4][5]

CUPA - Compassion Unlimited Plus Action

CUPA rescues and treats sick, injured and abused animals in Bengaluru through a specialty veterinary hospital and trauma care. It also runs spay and neuter programmes, adoption and large-animal rehabilitation.

CUPA - Compassion Unlimited Plus Action reports the following, on its own site:

12,00,122 total animals impacted
3,44,681 dogs vaccinated
1,66,689 dogs sterilised
1,49,606 emergency trauma cases handled

Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO)

FIAPO is a federation of more than 190 member animal-protection organisations across India, coordinating campaigns against animal cruelty, pursuing legal action for animal rights, building member capacity and promoting farmed-animal welfare and plant-based advocacy.

Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) reports the following, on its own site: