18/12/2015

Winter & Stray Dog Story

People here in Drametse go in the woods to gather fuel for warming their houses while those with less or no family make use of electric heaters. Some drink tea and some go for locally brewed wines so as to keep themselves warm. Though the community has seen no snow for a decade, the freezing wind blowing from downstream is no less than frostbite. But no matter how harsh the climate is, the people at least have options for survival.

What about the animals? Forget those in the wild and just think of animals around us. Stray dogs may possibly be a good example for they have no owner to lend a hand in their survival fight. Most of us view stray dogs as vermin as they are dirty, and also spread rabies if bitten. Many, including myself get irritated when awaken in the midnight by their howls. But these are not the reason why I support the nationwide dog sterilization campaign; it’s sympathy of mine on having seen their poor livelihood. Stray dogs struggle hard in search of shelter which shields them from the frosty airs of winter. Getting of food during the daytime may mean they could possibly survive the tough hours of dark.
Fig: Two survived out of eight (Photo Courtesy: my little son) 
Maybe old ones are adapted to the environment but the survival is in question when it comes to puppies. In wintertime, the ears and paws of puppies get frostbitten and they freeze to death. A couple of month ago, I’ve seen a dog that gave birth to 10 puppies. But with approaching of winter, many puppies died since the temperature at night was not more than 10 degree Celsius. It was then that my wife decided to rescue them. She brought them home, kept near the fire, and used my water bag to warm them. At night they were kept in small kennel built at the backyard. 
Fig: Temporary kennel built for puppies 
But in every crack of dawn we used to collect a corpse of at least one infant and throw it into the bushes. But one fine day the mother dog picked up the thrown corpse of her puppy, she dumped it in between the piled bricks and then using her mouth she covered it with the soils. It was then we decided not to play with her emotion and then dumped every corpse of the puppy into the pit. Today she is free with no puppies nagging around her. Our rescue mission failed, it seems we were too late. By the time we began to help, the puppies were too weak to be saved. The mother dog has no milk for her weak puppies as she ate no food for days before we brought her home. So the frosty night and lack of milk took the lives of those innocent puppies.

Fig: Kashamo who lost 10 puppies 
Despite several sterilization campaigns, we still have many stray dogs. Controlling the birth of stray dogs is for the good cause but not rescuing those born ones is inhuman. There are many similar struggling dogs around us, and we could feed and protect them at least in the season of winter. Remember, what you spend shall be returned back to you with interest in this lifetime or if not in the next coming generation of yours, and this is what ‘karma’ means. “WOULD IT HURT YOU TO CARE? IT HURTS THEM WHEN YOU DON’T”~ALISA
HAPPY READING

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