The Petathon was in association with the Bengaluru Midnight Marathon.
It was doggies' day out in Bengaluru on Sunday morning. Around 40 people and a dozen of pet dogs, many of them mongrels, came together for a half-kilometre Petathon at the old airport road area.
The Petathon, a bid to get people to give a home to homeless dogs, was in association with the city's Midnight Marathon, an organisation which hold fund-raising events with scores of runners participating from over 20 countries to support the cause.
"Every dog wants a home. Every dog wants to be taken care of. Every dog wants his food. Some dogs don't get it and that's why they are strays on the road. So the message this year is, instead of adopting a dog from another country or all these fancy dogs, why don't you adopt a stray?" Guru Mohammed Akbar, Race Director, Bengaluru Midnight Marathon told NDTV.
The need to encourage compassion is perhaps greater now than ever with terrible reports of cruelty against animals showing up every now and then.
Nasir, a participant in the walk, said, "In India, we have a lot of people that are going against dogs. They are killing dogs, and not adopting street dogs. They are also living beings. They too need some place in the world to live."
This is the second year that a Pethaton took place in the city to create awareness that it is better to adopt a homeless dog rather than buy from a breeder.