The festival of Holi is around the corner and the excitement is slowly building up, we are all ready to revel in the burst of colours!

Children are understandably excited at the sight of Holi colours and the splashing water. To avoid their excitement causing animals distress, which in turn may harm them, use Holi as an opportunity to teach children about respect and kindness to animals.

By taking the time to explain to children that dogs and other animals can easily be frightened, and discouraging the throwing of water balloons and paint, they can learn that their fun should not be unfair to animals.

As much as we love to celebrate with our loved ones, it’s important to know that our pets and stray buddies are the most common victims of the toxic colours and water balloons during the festival.

Holi colours can cause them major health problems. The chemicals used for making the colours and paints are carcinogenic and can cause trouble to both humans and animals, resulting in skin problems. Animals may get poisoned by licking these chemicals, and spraying colours in their face may even lead to blindness!

Besides the adverse physical effects, there might be behavioural and psychological impacts too. Dogs and cats can become frightened by the explosion of a water balloon, a sudden movement of colour or spray may startle them and they may get apprehensive in a loud crowd as they do not understand what is happening. Animals may show a “fight or flight” reaction in such situations. They may either run away or strike back in self-defense.

To keep your children safe, teach them that no animal, including street dogs, should be hurt or scared during the festival.

A FEW PRACTICAL TIPS:
– Tell children not to colour or spray any animal.
– Don’t throw water balloons at animals.
– Don’t feed festival sweets to pets or strays.
– Walk your pet before celebrations begin.
– Use mild shampoos if pets do get coloured.
– Watch out for warning signs of poisoning.

Festivals are a good time for young and old to celebrate and rejoice. Holi is also a great occasion to discuss with our children how they can show consideration and compassion to animals and how they can prevent themselves from getting into undesired confrontations with dogs, whether pet or stray.

Let’s make a promise to make this Holi #animalfriendly by not putting any colour on our pets and by keeping stray dogs in our neighbourhood clean and safe.

Wishing you a happy and safe Holi!

This article was compiled by Suhani based on a variety of resources that are available online.