Why Vegan
Why vegan?
Because we firmly believe that killing one set of animals to save another is not just hypocritical, it is harmful to the planet and humans as well.
Hence we took a conscious decision that we will serve only vegan food for not just our patients, but our team and guests too. We have adopted a lot of vegan and sustainable measures like growing our vegetables and so on.
We are not only a vegan sanctuary, we also work with the community to spread the message of compassion through veganism. As a part of this, we have a well-stocked library that has a large number of resources for veganism and animal rights and a team of committed volunteers who help us with activities like community outreach, workshops, screenings to name a few.
Raahat is a vegan sanctuary that promotes the message of veganism through
Workshops
Our Journey
We have been mentored and guided by many vegans, through our journey from vegetarianism, freeganism to veganism, including one of our caregivers who converted to ethical veganism way back in 2013.
Among our Green Initiatives, making a switch from a vegetarian, and sometimes freegan, diet to a vegan diet, for our 100 + resident dogs in 2018, was the most defining.
It was challenging initially, given the nature of our work, but why would anyone want to feed one animal to another? Unless they are obligate carnivores.
As they say, why love one but eat the other?
During this period, our man on the ground, Dr Uttam, who comes from a place known for its dairy farming, also transitioned to a vegan diet, for ethical as well as scientific reasons.
How amazing is that!! Well, you are welcome to visit us for a discussion and we assure you that you will leave convinced as to why a vegan world is the only way forward!
Volunteers leafletting on World Farmed Animals Day
Onward and Upward
A seed grant, by The Pollination Project, in 2018 helped us to set up a book & DVD library (animal rights, animal welfare and vegan focused) at Raahat, the only such library of its kind in the state.
The Library facilitates animal rights and vegan centred learning by providing animal-centred books, documentaries, and films to educate vegans, vegetarians, and non-vegetarians on vegan advocacy, vegan cooking, reasons for becoming vegan, environmental concerns for meat-based diets, animal behaviour, and other animal-centred subjects.
The library at Raahat is open to all who wish to experience the world of animals, research the animal rights theory and explore the vegan lifestyle
The sanctuary attracts many non-vegan animal lovers, proving a perfect location to introduce them to veganism. The centre tours/field trips provide information on rescued farmed animals and working animals (cows, buffaloes, equines, pigs, chickens, goats) allows animals to feed and interact with them as well as street dogs and cats.
The field trips, vegan meetups, food sampling and workshops are some of our efforts to make veganism mainstream in the city. We are also taking the message to schools and colleges through our humane education programme.
The idea is to take the animal activism scene in Dehradun to the next level by introducing animal lovers and vegetarians to an alternative lifestyle (ethical veganism) and the reasons for the same.
Vegan Workshop at Navodaya Vidyalaya
Workshop at ITI
Workshop at Raahat by Animal Save Activists
Potluck at Raaahat
Food Sampling at Exile Creations
Food Sampling at ITI
Food Sampling at State Information Commission
Food Sampling at the Tibetan School
Film Screening - The Last Pig
Film Screening - The Last Pig
Tofu ball party for our doggies
School Outreach
School Field Trip
School Field Trip - Students Watching Earthlings
MasterChef Challenge at Hotel Madhuban
GREEN INITIATIVE
A Tale of Two Trees
The poet, Robert Frost, put it very succinctly when he said:
Two roads diverged in a wood and I -I took the one less travelled by,And that has made all the difference
Years ago, we had the option to either get the mango and dheu tree, at the entrance of the hospital gate, cut down or protect them, for birds, animals as well as their humans. The former would have been a convenient choice, with the roots fully exposed and the trees a danger to the buildings.
Goes without saying, we opted for the latter. And that sums up our commitment to continue building a greener, healthier place for animals as well as their humans.
Our Project ‘Mini Forest’ is a work in progress.