I first heard about the Lucky Animal Protection Shelter (LAPS) via Twitter. At the time, I was desperately looking for a home for a stray dog that lived in an empty plot next to a well-known eatery in Islamabad.

Betty was a sweet-natured dog who had suffered immensely after losing all her puppies — one after the other — to distemper, a deadly canine disease. Timid and in a state of grief, I was committed to getting her off the streets and in a safe space where she’d be fed and nurtured back to health. But finding someone who was willing and able to provide a home to a stray is an uphill battle in Pakistan — if Betty was a breed she would have had countless, eager offers.

After weeks of asking friends and family to spread the word, I came across a Twitter account that had been tweeting out the most heartwarming images of a woman and her rescue dogs. It was an animal shelter in Peshawar? I was in a state of shock. It was then that I knew I had found Betty’s permanent home.

A few weeks of coordination later, Betty arrived at LAPS, ready to begin her healing journey.

Currently with over 150 dogs and a donkey called Charlie, all rescued from Peshawar, Islamabad and Lahore, Zeba Masood, the founder of LAPS, treats her rescues like her own children. She has a warm aura and kind eyes. There is wisdom too, the kind that merges with a level of intuition allowing her to understand her surroundings and those who cross her path on a deeper level.

No wonder animals take to her so naturally. Walking through her shelter in Charsadda, the rescues bark excitedly as she passes by their enclosures. A few minutes later, one of the larger enclosures is opened and an assembly of dogs — of all shapes and sizes — come running out, jumping on her, licking her feet and frolicking about. There’s a flurry of activity and high energy around Masood as she pets them, calling out to the naughty ones who are running around like there’s no tomorrow.

They’re confident, well-fed, human-friendly and happy dogs — visible proof that each animal has been loved and cured even after suffering cruelty at the hands of man. Each case is a different, heart-wrenching story. And while that may ache your heart, seeing them now, fully recovered and doing silly dog things, assures you that all of them were lucky, truly lucky, to have crossed Masood’s path.

From Spikey to Fabio, Charlie (the donkey) and more, each animal’s life has turned around at LAPS, all under Masood’s watchful, albeit loving gaze. The fact alone that they are alive is nothing short of a miracle.

With a limited number of staff members, Masood, her husband, Javed Khan, and their youngest son, Zarak, run a tight ship at the shelter. While the family has their hands full with the day-to-day running of LAPS, they were also targetted recently by some religious fundamentalists at their previous facility in Peshawar and forced to vacate since their lives and the animals’ lives were at risk.

The men in the community believed that dogs were unclean.

Even though they were up against a wall, Masood and Khan moved swiftly with no intention of backing down. The well-being of the animals was of utmost importance to them.

Each case is a different, heart-wrenching story. And while that may ache your heart, seeing them now, fully recovered and doing silly dog things, assures you that all of them were lucky, truly lucky, to have crossed

“We celebrated our 40^th wedding anniversary this year,” Khan says. “For years I’d been planning on taking Zeba for a nice holiday. Instead, we were sitting on the mud with Zorro, Bernie and Lucky on our anniversary and, you know, it was the best experience I could’ve had. We’re very happy to be doing what we’re doing with LAPS. “Through Zeba’s work I’ve developed a great love for animals because you receive such pure, unadulterated love back from them. My role here, after spending a greater part of my life in the US, is to essentially help and support my wife with her rescue work as much as I can. I really wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Having grown up with pets, Masood has always had a special affinity for animals since she was a child. Moving back to Peshawar after four decades of living in the US, she began feeding stray dogs from the trunk of her car close to a plot her father owned. Lucky, one of her earliest rescues that is still with her was part of a pack of dogs that she would feed on a regular basis. Soon enough, Masood asked her father if she could fence in a small enclosure in the plot for her rescues. Much cajoling later, Masood, with help from a few donors, was able to put together a small animal shelter.

“My family wasn’t for it at all,” she says. “They’d tell me I was wasting my time, and that I should do something that earns me money. But I stood firm and said that this was what I wanted to do.

“I had found my purpose. It used to upset me so much seeing animals suffering on the roads. Even though LAPS is just a drop in the ocean, I have to do what I can to alleviate their pain.”

Today, four years since its launch, Masood’s animal rescue work in Peshawar is gaining attention from animal lovers at home and abroad. But there is still a lot to be done to get the new shelter up to speed.

Despite limited resources and sporadic funding, LAPS has been able to install desert coolers and fans in each enclosure for the animals. There’s a clinic too, which requires a bit of work and some equipment.

In a country where strays are beaten, thrown acid on and shot at, LAPS has been working very hard to create awareness about animal cruelty and animal welfare. It’s an uphill battle that Masood, Khan and Zarak are prepared to fight.

“I see hope in the younger generation,” Masood says. “The young people who visit my shelter have empathy for animals and I do believe they will end up changing the misconceptions about strays.”

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Islamabad. She may be contacted at sonjarehman@gmail.com