Set to receive a lifetime achievement award from Prince Charles (now King Charles III), he cancelled his trip at the last moment.
His dog had fallen ill. “Tango and Tito, my dogs — one of them had fallen terribly ill. I can’t leave him and come,” he told his friend and businessman Suhel Seth, who shared it in a video.
Seth shared that King Charles III was awestruck and praised Tata, “That’s a man. That’s the man Ratan Tata is. That’s why the house of Tata is what it is. That’s why it’s on a stable course.”
Wanting to build a better world for animals, he established the country’s first state-of-the-art Small Animal Hospital in Mahalaxmi, Mumbai.
This was his long-awaited dream, born out of his personal struggle to find advanced healthcare for his injured dog.
When his dog needed a joint replacement, he had to fly the dog all the way to the University of Minnesota, USA. But as he was “too late”, the veterinarian froze the dog’s joint in a particular position, Ratan Tata had told The Times of India.
“Pets are our family and their lives matter to every pet parent. When I looked around and saw the lack of infrastructure for pets in India, it made me wonder why in such a large country with a significant pet population we cannot have a facility that can save lives and make pet lives better,” he had said.
He would frequently share posts about dogs who needed help on his social media handles.
He also had instructed the staff at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel to treat stray dogs humanely.