 This land was purchased a few months later so that they could have a permanent shelter.The BCI was established in 1959 by Captain V. Sundaram and his family, who was a member of the Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) in the early 1960s and again in the 1980s.Initially started as a small group, it grew to become one of the country's largest animal welfare organizations, running active animal welfare, animal rights and humane education programmes.