In an emergency, go to the specific city guide below

This page is a directory, not a helpline itself. Click through to your city for verified phone numbers, WhatsApp lines, and addresses - every contact on every linked page has been checked directly against the organisation's own current website or official social channel, not pulled from an aggregator.

Every guide in this series follows the same standard: phone numbers verified directly against each organisation's own site wherever possible, honest flags where a number couldn't be confirmed, and corrections where an organisation's public reputation didn't match what they actually offer. That standard turned up more than a few genuine surprises along the way.

In Bengaluru, VOSD - the city's largest dog sanctuary - states plainly on its own site that it runs no rescue helpline at all; the actual emergency contacts are CUPA and Karuna. In Hyderabad, the same pattern repeats with Blue Cross of Hyderabad, the most recognisable animal welfare name in the city, whose own Instagram bio says outright that they don't conduct rescues. In Pune, RESQ Charitable Trust - nationally known for wildlife rescue - scopes its own 24-hour helpline explicitly to wildlife only; domestic animal emergencies go to WSD. These aren't omissions or oversights. They're what you find when you read the organisations' own current materials rather than repeating what aggregator directories say.

A few other things worth knowing before you use this directory. Chennai's Blue Cross of India is the historical origin of the Animal Birth Control and Anti-Rabies (ABC-AR) model that nearly every other organisation in this series now runs as their core strategy - a single Chennai clinic in 1964 is, in a real sense, why India's approach to street dog population management looks the way it does today, nationwide. And in Jaipur, watch for a genuine name-mix-up risk: Help in Suffering (HIS) and Jaipur Animal Welfare Trust run their main public operations from sites so close together that maps sometimes conflate them. The Jaipur guide notes the distinction clearly.

Two entries in this directory look different from the rest on purpose. Rishikesh and Mussoorie don't have their own dedicated, independently verifiable rescue organisations - a genuine finding from the research, not a gap in it. Both guides say so plainly and point to Dehradun, roughly equidistant from each, as the practical backup, rather than padding out a page to look complete when the honest answer is shorter.

City guides

Delhi Friendicoes, PFA, SGACC, Jeevashram, PAWS Bengaluru CUPA, Karuna - plus why VOSD isn't a rescue line Mumbai BSDPHA, WSD, RAWW for wildlife specifically Jaipur Help in Suffering - and a genuine name-confusion warning Hyderabad PFA Hyderabad - plus why Blue Cross isn't a rescue line Pune Karma Foundation for strays, RESQ for wildlife specifically Chennai Blue Cross of India - the origin of India's ABC-AR model Dehradun PFA Dehradun's Raahat Animal Hospital

Nearby hill towns - an honest note

Rishikesh and Mussoorie don't have their own dedicated, independently verifiable rescue organisations - that's a genuine finding, not a gap in research. Both guides below say so directly and point to Dehradun, roughly equidistant from each, as the practical backup.

Rishikesh No dedicated local org - what's actually there, and the Dehradun backup Mussoorie Same honest situation - Dehradun is your practical backup

Frequently asked questions

How current is this information?
Every phone number marked as verified was checked directly against the organisation's own website or official social account at the time of writing. Contact details for small NGOs change - if a number doesn't connect, check the organisation's own current channels linked from each city guide.

Why do some organisations get a warning callout instead of just a phone number?
A few well-known names - Blue Cross of Hyderabad, VOSD in Bengaluru - turned out not to run rescue or emergency services despite being the most recognisable name in their city. Those guides flag this clearly so you call the organisation that can actually help.

More cities coming?
This directory will expand as new city guides are researched and verified to the same standard.

Why does the ABC-AR model matter across every city in this directory?
Nearly every organisation covered in this series - Karuna, HIS, CUPA, WSD, PFA, RESQ, and more - runs some version of Animal Birth Control and Anti-Rabies vaccination as their core population-management strategy. That approach was pioneered in Chennai in 1964 and later adopted as Indian national policy. It's the connective thread running under the entire directory, even though each city's guide reads independently.

What should I do if the organisation I need isn't listed?
Each city guide notes where a phone number or organisation couldn't be independently verified rather than guessing. If you're in a city not yet covered, or need an organisation this directory hasn't confirmed, a direct search for that organisation's own current website or official social account is more reliable than an aggregator listing - contact details for smaller NGOs change more often than directories catch up to.

Guides tagged “animal shelters India”

Animal Shelters & Rescue Helplines Across India