Kinarut folks stone mama dog, pups
Published on: Saturday, September 18, 2021
By: Dr Roslee bin Haji Abbas
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IN OUR busy lives, we never give a second thought to the little creatures, such as cats and dogs, wandering around our neighbourhood. We consider it routine and nothing of significance.
Sometimes, it is the bark of a dog or a chilling cry of a cat that grabs our attention but because it doesn’t make any difference to our lives, we forget about it the next moment. What we forget is that, we, as humans, have a responsibility to help, care and pay attention to the needy and helpless creatures who depend on us.
As adults, it is our responsibility to remind each other of how and why it is important to take care of these stray animals as much as possible. Good habits begin from childhood and remain instilled in people for their whole life.
Therefore, caring for animals when you are young will not only be a great learning experience, but will also teach you responsibility, gentleness and respect for other living beings.
Animal abuse or neglect is never okay. Dogs or cats can’t speak up for themselves. So if you see your neighbor, passers-by or anybody abusing homeless dog – or any animal, for that matter – you have a responsibility to speak up, whether that’s to your neighbour directly, or, if you’re not comfortable doing that, to your local authority, animal group or law enforcement department like the department of Veterinary Services.
Homeless animals like dogs and cats don’t have shelters. Every day is a battle to them and among them. It is their survival skills that make them live long, so only those who are fit and strong manage to have shelter and scraps of food.
When the Heart team received a call from a concerned neighbour from Taman Rose Jaya, Kinarut on September 15, about a mother dog and her litters were literally abused, we were quick to send our team to visit the neighbourhood.
Once there, we found a homeless mother dog with one-week-old puppies in desperate need of new home.
We do not condone the kids throwing stones at the mother dog and her puppies. We have seen dogs getting severe injuries due being pelted with stones, which could even end in death.
A homeless mother dog, was the victim of a callous act by a group of children and adults, but thankfully her story has a happy ending. In Taman Rose Jaya neighbourhood, kids were caught throwing rocks and sticks at the innocent mother dog and chasing her around the streets.
Adults were also seen to throw stones at the mother dog. The poor mother dog was clearly suffering and traumatised from the ordeal, and she was wounded from the cruel children and adults that abused her with stones and sticks. Witnesses reported seeing these kids and adults harassing the mother dog. How horrible!
Just like for humans, treating an animal badly is not nice. Take for example, a poor person, we usually help them and some people just leave them. A stray/homeless dog comes in the category of poor, instead of throwing stones at it, we can leave it.
And only person with a kind heart would help that stray/homeless dog. Everyone deserves their own peace, whether animal or person.
We came in no time and approached the mother dog. Her back legs were injured. Despite being tormented by the neighbourhood kids and adults, this sweet gal couldn’t stop wagging her tail as we came close. She even rolled over on her back for belly rubs!
The mother dog was brought to our panel clinic for treatment of her injured hind legs and later the family will be under foster care. We got into a confrontation with the parent as they began to justify the kids’ actions.
We talked to the parents and strongly advised them to discipline their kids not to harass street dogs. Unfortunately, these kids’ parents weren’t interested. The parents did not care. We said we too will throw stones at their kids then, as it seems to be approved behaviour. The parents were angry. They said, if we felt so bad for the mother dog, why didn’t we take her to our house? We said, we would rather take the kids and teach them to be kinder to animals as that would guarantee that they would not hurt any other after today.
We hope the kids’ parents would reprimand or correct their kids.
We felt sorry for those kids with such ignorant parents. How are they going to navigate the world with such poor social skills? And we were angry at the parents for being so lazy turds. It is important to teach children not to pelt dogs with stones and provoke them.
This kind of aggression may sometimes result in counter-aggression and will lead to terrible unfortunate happening. Children must also be taught by adults how to behave in a manner that they stay safe and create an atmosphere of peace.
Parents play a major role in making their kids learn good or bad habits in their early years. Telling kids to stay away from stray cats and dogs is not wrong and so is telling kids to hurl something towards these animals. Why do we have to shoo away stray animals by hurling something, especially if the dog or cat is at a safe distance?
This leads us to develop a dislike for stray or homeless animals and treat them harshly without even being sorry for their helplessness. It is something we see elders (the ones we trust) doing and it is what we also do. We have seen people throw stones, sticks or anything they get hold of, and become delighted when the animal runs in fear of being hurt.
Instead of doing such acts and telling youngsters to follow suit, elders should tell the kids that these animals depend on humans, as they are living on the street or road, which is not their fault. They are born there, so if they are approaching a person, they must be hungry or in need of attention.
Remember kids, you can benefit from the companionship, affection and relationships with these innocent animals throughout your life. If you are a caring person and your friend is not, tell them that if they can’t be good, caring or helpful, they don’t have to be cruel or unconcerned either.
Don’t ignore these innocent creatures because your ignorance makes them victims of starvation, disease and human cruelty. We receive no government funding and rely on the support and kindness from our community, private donations and charity bazaar to complete our mission. Heart does not euthanise animals to make space to house others. We are a no-kill animal welfare group and work to preserve life whenever possible.
We rely on donations from people like you who are willing to spend their hard-earned money to help animals in dire need.
If you would like to help to pay for mother dog’s medical expenses and others please send your money to:
CIMB BANK BERHAD
Account no. 70 3762569 4
ROSLI @ ROSLEE BIN ABBAS
DONATE - MOTHER DOG
And every ringgit helps! Thank you in advance for your generous, big and small (and no donation is too small).
Have a heart. Donate.
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