A project that almost took off (dogs in a particular building)

We were in a discussion yesterday to help some dogs in a certain location.

The news was that the presence of these dogs were reported to the authorities because they were a “kacau-ganggu”. As we all know, when there is a complaint, the authorities will act. In fact, they sometimes also act without complaints as the law permits them to “membuat pemantauan”.

So we asked friends to interview the residents in the area and guess what, nobody lodged any complaint. As far as the hawkers were concerned, they did not find the dogs a nuisance. They said the dogs were friendly, kept to themselves, did not disturb anyone and did not even chase any vehicle. Also, after repeated monitoring, there were only 2-4 dogs sighted in that area. They looked docile too.

So who lodged the complaint?

Next, we heard that the dogs took shelter in some building where they were not welcome due to cultural reasons. And apparently, one dog bit a resident as well. So as usual, due to one biting, all dogs would be rounded up. But in the first place, what were the circumstances that led to that alleged biting? Was the dog provoked? Let’s be fair, shall we? Just because dogs cannot talk and defend themselves, it doesn’t mean they don’t deserve some fairness here.

If there is one unruly human in a community, do you round up all the humans and subject them to the same penalty? If one human attacks another, don’t you at least find out from that human why he attacked in the first place?

Humans deserve more justice than animals?

WHY?

Humans are bullies, aren’t they? Plain selfish bullies.

Just take a moment and look at Turkey-Syria where rescue dogs are sacrificing their lives to search for earthquake victims. All because of the very nature of dogs – they will serve to please their masters/handlers. This is the inborn nature of ALL dogs. Whether it is a trained rescue dog or a street dog, dogs are the same everywhere. They live to serve and obey. They will even take a bullet for us.

Just look at Batang Kali’s disastrous landslide, look at how hard the dogs worked to help us humans.

When humans need dogs, they use them. But when dogs need protection and justice, who helps them?

Humans do not deserve dogs. Dogs are way too good.

So yesterday was a long day spent trying to help these dogs.

Our plan was to search for a shelter or shelters that would be willing to take in these dogs. Then, the next was to enlist the help of rescuers who are willing to help catch the dogs.

Most shelters are full and bursting at its seams. They just cannot take in anymore animals.

We finally found one and thought we would fundraise to help this shelter build a small enclosure for these dogs. Next came the rescue help. That proved to be more difficult. We even considered getting a darter to help, licensed to use the tranquiliser gun.

A rescuer we were in discussion with offered to check out the area properly and interview more residents to find out what the problem was. Are the residents really so unhappy with the dogs, or was this a case of smoke and mirrors?

Then, by evening, news on the ground was that another group of concerned people had already made plans with shelters to take in the dogs.

That was a relief!

So, even though all the planning did not take off, we managed to learn a lot from this experience. Many thanks to the rescuer and her friends for all the help.