DNA Exclusive: 17-year-old Rajveer Bansal on launching app for his social start-up 'Teens For Tails' to help stray dogs

Rajveer Bansal, some time back, had started a social initiative named Teens for Tails, a community of teenagers working on the streets to make tails wag, and by the looks of it, it is going successfully. 

Rajveer, who is a student of Jayshree Periwal International School in Jaipur, Rajasthan, in an exclusive chat with DNA said that it was his alma mater that instilled a sense of compassion and integrity in him so that he can help those in need. 

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Sep 12, 2020 at 1:15am PDT

The last time Rajveer spoke to DNA, Teens for Tails was just taking off amid the coronavirus pandemic, however, now it is going digital. Speaking about the same, Rajveer said, "We are feeding 6000 animals daily and 1200 kgs of food, and now 'Teens for Tails' is an app. It is a discovery platform where the users. They can directly connect with the volunteers associated with the platform whether it is for sterilisation or vaccination or adoption of those pets."

He further added, "So, how it works is, how you open the 'Uber' app and see cars around, the same way when you open our app, you see a map, the animals will be visible on the app. Stray dogs usually don't change their locality unless there is a threat posed to them so you can visit a stray animal near your house, upload it and geotag it on the app. So they can see the stray animals around them or the location of the nearest NGO." 

Speaking further about plans regarding the future, Rajveer said that he wants to launch "Commerce for a cause" wherein he will be launching his own fashion line, and every bit of profit that 'Teens for Tails' make will come back for the cause. 

We also asked Rajveer about the response to the app so far, to which he said, "The app was on beta testing in September and we have around 1000 tails we have been tagged around in India as of now." 

Speaking about his motivation, he said, "My biggest motivation is the wagging of every animals' tail. Personally, I have a beagle named Kipper, who is two-years-old and looking at him having the best of food, shelter, and sense of family makes me happy. When I see the dogs downstairs, I see all of that missing but whenever I go to feed them, whether it is just a slice of bread or vegetable, they just start wagging their tails, they start to remember who you are once you visit them regularly. I think that is my motivation." 

In addition to this, we also discussed a recent case with Rajveer which might be a little triggering, but Rajveer was proud of how they were able to help the dog get back up on its feet. 

He said, "There was recently a pup, she was on the road, and her foot was basically stuck to one of the fences. The only way to get her leg out was to amputate it, we had to get that leg chopped off. Initially, it was really rough, she couldn't walk, she would trip every time, however, now she is doing much better. She can run, gallop. She has a limp but is in great shape. She is currently at the shelter and we are trying to get her adopted."

"It is not easy to get such pets adopted as people are always looking for healthy breeds but we will get there," he said. 

Rajveer ended his chat by saying that he loves to be of help to stray animals and whenever he sees an animal in need his first instinct is to always help them out.