Meet the Woman Who Gave up Her Multi-Million Dollar Business to Help Animals
Otara Gunewardene is leading Sri Lanka’s fight for animal rights after meeting a puppy who changed everything for her
In a sprawling national park in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, a makeshift tent shelters dozens of dogs from the sun as they recover from a dose of anesthesia. Vets and volunteers arrived at the site at 6 AM that morning — over the next three days, they’ll work to neuter and vaccinate 80 percent of the area’s street dog population. The initiative is part of Embark, a charity founded by Otara Gunewardene, the woman who is leading the country’s fight for animal rights.
Otara’s own story is a beautiful example of compassion to animals. In 1989, she started selling clothes from the back of her van. Within eleven years, she had turned this backyard business into Sri Lanka’s most famous department store chain, with eighteen stores spread throughout the capital. Her multi-million dollar company, Odel, expanded the retail capacity of her country and employed thousands of people, leading Otara to become the first woman in Sri Lanka to take a company public.
But, in 2005, when Otara was driving home from work, she saw an abandoned puppy lying on the side of the road. She gently picked him…
