In the heart of Ranchi, far from glittering metros and polished NGO campaigns, lives a young woman who has turned her pain into purpose and her Instagram page into a lifeline for thousands of street animals. Meet Archie Sen, a trained classical dancer, sociology postgrad, and self-taught animal rescuer—whose fierce, grounded activism is transforming how an entire city treats its stray dogs.
“I wasn’t an animal lover,” Archie says bluntly, “until I saw my neighbor pour boiling water on a lactating street dog and her puppy. I couldn’t save them. That moment turned my world upside down.” What began with a biscuit packet and a handful of friends turned into a city-wide movement.
In March 2020, Archie started a simple Instagram page—Street Dogs of Ranchi—not to raise funds or post rescue videos, but just to share photos and write stories about the dogs she met. “I’d name the dog and give it a voice,” she says. “People began recognizing those dogs, feeding them, asking about them. It grew from there.”
But Archie wasn’t content with awareness alone. Over time, she learned—on her own and through volunteering in Delhi’s People for Animals shelter—how to touch, carry, and treat injured dogs. Returning to Ranchi, she began doing rescues herself. “There was no shelter, no place for post-op care. I had to convince my father to let me foster dogs in our 2BHK flat’s balcony,” she laughs.
Her father, now retired, has stood by her as both mentor and enabler. “Without my dad, none of this would have been possible,” she says. “He is my God.” With no formal training in fundraising, Archie wrote to companies like Pedigree India.
It took persistence—emailing them daily and rallying her followers to do the same—but one day, 1.5 lakh worth of dog food landed at her doorstep. Since then, she has collaborated with big names like Spotify, Hyundai, Vespa, and Drools. A turning point came in 2022 when actor Rajkummar Rao interviewed her. “That’s when people in my city really started taking me seriously,” she says. Today, Archie’s TAWC Foundation (Tree, Animal, Woman, Child) runs a shelter housing over 20 dogs—some blind, some paralyzed, some permanently injured. She has facilitated more than 300 rehabilitations and 150 adoptions, all personally verified through home checks and post-adoption updates.
“You can’t just hand a dog over and forget,” she says. “They are family.” She’s waged legal battles too—pushing Jharkhand High Court to act on cruelty cases ranging from acid attacks to beatings. She has stood against illegal breeding, challenged the police’s apathy, and called out municipality inefficiency publicly, often tagging officials directly on her posts.
Despite online trolling and fake accounts created by breeding lobbies, Archie stands tall. “I don’t get demoralized. If needed, I challenge people publicly to go live with me. They never do.” She doesn’t ask for money donations—only rice, food, or supplies. “People used to say, ‘COVID is over, why are you still feeding them?’ But the dogs didn’t vanish. They were abandoned. Forgotten.” To fund her rescue efforts, she runs a small side business called Fluffy Pet—a pet bakery and aggregator platform for services like daycare, dog-walking, and hostel stays. “We charge a 10% commission. That keeps the shelter afloat.” What drives her isn’t just love—it’s a sense of responsibility.
“One girl and her retired dad can do this much. Imagine if every citizen just did their bit. You don’t need an NGO. You don’t need a title. Just empathy and action.” She dreams of launching free ambulance services for animals across Jharkhand, so no one ever has to say, “I couldn’t get my pet to the clinic.”
Postscript Archie asked for just one thing: that we include a picture of her with her father, the man who gave her courage when the world turned away. That picture now sits framed at the entrance of their shelter—a quiet reminder that even the most extraordinary revolutions begin at home.