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If the canine and feline residents at the Pondok Pengayom Satwa Jakarta animal shelter in Ragunan could speak, they would have no problem identifying their Independence Day heroes: The handful of volunteers who spend their free time caring for them.

For 17-year-old Hedwig Ajeng Grahani, or Ajeng to her friends, feeding bottled milk to an abandoned two-week-old, mixed-breed puppy is just one daily task in a long list she shares with two other young volunteers, Joyo Santyo and Vicky Victoria.

Ajeng has been volunteering for the past two years at the shelter where she grooms and feeds the dogs, cleans their cages and nurses them back to health. Sometimes, her job is simply to play with her four-legged friends, giving them the human affection and socialization skills they so badly need.

PPS veterinarian Hadi Wibowo said about 100 dogs of various breeds and 100 cats had been provided with a safe haven in the leafy compound near Ragunan Zoo in South Jakarta.

Among the longtime residents of the shelter is three-legged Coki, who faithfully greets arriving visitors at the main door, and Burik, a mixed-breed dog admitted to the shelter in 2002 with severe burns suffered in a vicious attack after he strayed from his owner’s home.

The PPS, Hadi said, had a waiting list with about 100 dogs lined up for admission, their owners having decided to disown them. Cats were luckier. Most were taken in because they were generally still young when they arrived, many dumped at the shelter’s doors in cardboard boxes.

“Some dump their pets because they can no longer take care of the ailing or aged ones,” Hadi said. “There are also parents who give away their child’s dog because the child has left home for college.”

But for Ajeng, the number of dogs and cats at the shelter gives her a productive way to spend her school holidays.

Ajeng, who just graduated from high school and is on a break before starting college next month, has stepped up her normally once-a-week volunteer routine to spend more time with her animal friends.

“Now I am on holiday so I can come here more often and enjoy doing this as a hobby,” she said. “And I get to learn the right way to bathe the dogs, especially those suffering from skin diseases.”

Her compassion helped her to overcome the revulsion she initially felt when caring for the ailing creatures. “There were some friends who couldn’t stay on long as volunteers because they just felt disgusted by the sick dogs,” she said.

For Ajeng, spending hours volunteering at the shelter is about more than just learning proper pet care, though these are skills she can use back home in caring for her two dogs and two cats.

“I am happy that I can at least do some good things and share my compassion for other living beings,” she said.

PPS head Diah Sulasmo Rizal said the volunteers gave the animals “a touch of love.”

“The animals need to not only be fed, they also need friendship and affection,” said Diah, who retired from a high-powered job in the oil and gas business a few years ago after about 30 years in the industry. Now she uses her time to concentrates on her passion: Caring for animals.

Eighteen-year-old Joyo, or Tyo as he is also known, started volunteering at the shelter two years ago, around the same time as Ajeng. He has been coming once a week and starts the day by helping to feed the dogs, clean their cages and groom them.

“I groom three to five dogs here and I end the day by giving them their afternoon meals,” he said, adding that he usually stays at the shelter until it closes at 3:00 p.m.

For Tyo, who also has his own dogs and cats at home, working at the shelter is “a labor of love.”

“I felt that I just had to do something to help these abandoned animals,” he said.

Volunteering has helped him learn how to work with dogs’ individual quirks, something that comes in handy when caring for them, he said.

“I have also learned to control my emotions and to be more patient. It would be difficult to handle a dog if I couldn’t let go of frustrations,” he said.

Tyo said that he had asked his friends to join him and Ajeng at the shelter. “But it is difficult to find friends who want to do this continuously and sincerely,” he said. “Sometimes they just do this once and never come back.”

Apart from volunteering to care for the animals at PPS, both Tyo and Ajeng said they also tried to find people willing to adopt the disowned pets. Sometimes they even took the animals home temporarily while waiting for the right person to come along to adopt them.

The PPS was established in 1987 by Soeprapti Soeprapto, the wife of former Jakarta Governor R. Soeprapto. Diah began working at the institution as the head of operations in 2009. In May 2010, a year into the job, Soeprapti entrusted Diah with leading the shelter.

Diah also heads the Animal Lovers Association, or Himpunan Penyayang Binatang, and together with lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis and Shanti Shamdasani, as well as other animal rights groups, she has launched a campaign to demand legislation for the fair treatment of animals across the country.

The shelter had five regular volunteers and received some additional help from members of the Jakarta Animal Aid Network, an animal rights group, Diah said, adding that the volunteers had to abide by strict visiting hours.

“We can’t let the volunteers take the animals out of their cages without a staff member present, and we also have to prevent our neighborhood being disturbed by the dogs barking in the evening,” she said.

“What we really need from a volunteer is someone who understands our conditions and can cooperate with our caretakers in handling the animals.”