I started the day by submitting our letter of appeal for the waiver of the reclaimation fee to MPK. I managed to see the officer concerned at about 8.20am. He said he could not waive the fee, so I still had to pay, though, a reduced sum. And that was that. So, despite the help provided by the YB and a state councillor, the fee simply could not be waived.
When the meeting with the officer ended, it had begun to rain heavily in Klang. We quickly proceeded to the dog pound because the lorry was already waiting somewhere for directions to get in.
The rain was certainly no help at all, and I wondered how we were going to get the dogs onboard the lorry. There was no shaded place from where we could work.
Our two vets were there with us – Dr Khor and Dr Yap.
Dr Khor with the dog whom I promised I would take today. Unfortunately, she was placed in the first enclosure where every other dog was very sick, and one had actually died. Dr Khor said she looked healthy enough. I was very determined to take her, because I could sense she wanted very much to go with us (since yesterday).
The condition of the dogs and the pound looked very different this morning compared to yesterday afternoon. This morning, we saw the dogs’ faeces and urine and it was a most pitiful sight. There was diarrhoea, and blood-stained faeces as well. Many of the dogs were simply lying in their faeces. And this morning, we saw many sick dogs. It was a most pathetic sight. It is strange that yesterday, everyone looked healthy.
Being hosed down.
Our young vet, Dr Yap (in stripes), with his two assistants. He took the temperature of each dog that he examined while his assistant took down notes. We were obligated to take only healthy dogs, hence, this physical examination was necessary.
A dog who had died in the night….poor thing.
We took those who gave us “the look” – how could you say no? Dr Khor said to take those who looked bright, alert and those that came to us very easily. These were some of the ones we took.
Yes, I promised this one I would take her yesterday, and I kept my promise. I took her despite the presence of the dead dog behind her and the fact that she was placed with all the sick dogs. She looked very bright and healthy. I was very relieved when Dr Yap examined her and her temperature was normal. YES!! You get to go, girl!
Yes, yes, yes!! I carried her out, and put her into a small cage, which I then secured with rafia string.
This was another one that we definitely had to take. She is SO incredibly active and cheerful. Had a nice collar too. And looks like our Dante. Dante2?
I kept asking Dr Khor if we could take this one because She wanted to go too, but her signs did not look good. I think she had just been scalded with hot water, but Dr Khor did not think so. Poor thing… She could be treated for his skin condition, but we had no fosterers and no where to put her if we could not find any adopter later on. [We rescued her today, thanks to MDDB’s offer to foster and look after her – 16th Dec]
Every dog that the vets approved of, I quickly carried into a cage. The smaller ones shared a cage. We only had 17 cages, but we figured it would be enough.
Another one who had died in the night…poor thing.
This one wanted to go so much, he stuck his head out of the bars and got stuck. We took him along.
We looked for dogs to fill up all the cages.
The first row on the lorry.
All waiting patiently to be loaded. These must be the most well-behaved pound dogs I’d ever seen. This goes to show that they must have been pets. In fact, Lisa thinks ALL of them had been pets before. None displayed the typical “stray” mannerisms.
Almost all loaded and ready to go. After filling up the lorry to the brim, we took a total of 36 dogs. All the healthy ones were taken, along with some other “passable” ones. As agreed, I could not take the sick ones. I was very saddened by this, but in life, you cannot have everything your way. If you could, that’s called heaven, not earth.
The lorry was under an extremely tight schedule as it had to be back in KL by afternoon. The rain was certainly no help as it hindred us tremendously. All of us were wet.
Off we went, on the long journey.
Where to?
Well, I did not want to reveal the location yesterday, because I know some people are not going to be happy with where I am rehoming them to. I had already received flak the last time when I rehomed dogs in this place, but before anyone starts criticising again, could you please ask yourself this question: If you had a better idea, why didn’t you do it? If you haven’t done anything for these dogs, then hear me out. We decided that this option, though not ideal, is still better than being euthanised. You can see for yourself that these are all healthy and active dogs. There is no reason to have them euthanised.
Yes, we headed to Pahang, or more accurately, to Bentong.
To LLLP (Lotus Life Liberation Park). I had negotiated for days to get these 40 places for them, while awaiting two organisations to “do something”. I did not want to move in because I believe the other organisations would definitely have better options (LLLP would be a last option), but seeing that up until Monday, no one had done anything, I had to do something on the D-Day. These dogs were going to be euthanised today, and would have been, if I had not taken them out.
LLLP is definitely better than being euthanised – that is what I think, and I will take full responsibility, karmic or otherwise, for this decision. I know my intentions are purely to save these innocent lives, the only way I knew how and this was the only option I had.
The moment we arrived at the gates of LLLP, a friendly helper was on hand to open the gates for us, and Peter Pan and another farm dog were happily wagging their tails. Peter Pan greeted me warmly and made pawprints on my tshirt!
Here’s Bro Sui, and his ever-friendy helpers, helping us unload the cages quickly so that the lorry could go back to KL. We were running on an extremely tight schedule.
All girls go into the smaller enclosure. We separated the girls and the boys since none had been spayed/neutered yet
The dogs waited patiently to be put into their new enclosures. This was an extremely slow procedure, because we actually did the move with only three people today – just myself and two volunteers. I ended up carrying most of the dogs into the enclosures, one by one. None of the dogs howled or barked despite having endured the almost two-hour journey. They merely waited very patiently. They were so, so well-behaved. Because we were so short-handed (in people who could carry them into the cage), we took some time to do this.
And, they are heavy!
Another girl, and a big one too (I mean, the dog)!
A big boy…
The agitated ones, we brought closer to the door of the enclosure before carrying them out. This was to minimise their anxiety…and also lighten our burden!
The girls’ room. I was so happy they loved the vegetarian kibbles! One dog was very depressed and sat in the corner, but when the kibbles was strewn on the floor, she came to eat too.
Good girl! And that’s Selphie (that’s the name I’ve given to the one whom I promised to save yesterday – the black and gold one beside me.) I’ve named her after the mother-dog I rescued 3 1/2 years ago from the Puchong Dog Pound. According to Dr Yap earlier at the pound, Selphie had probably given birth before, looking at her teats.
The boys settled in pretty well after they were fed So I did not want to go into their enclosure and excite them. Let them rest, the poor things.
More of the boys.
There’s one bully in the boys’ room and also one in the girls’ room. We told the helpers to keep an eye on these two.
Peek-a-boo!!
One black dog (male) escaped as we were trying to get him into the enclosure. We figured he would not run too far. We were actually too tired to go after him.
True enough, he came back after half an hour or so.
I put food out for him, and moved away. He came close and started to eat. Since he is male, I’m not too worried even if we can’t get him into the enclosure.
These are the three agitated ones. We decided to keep them in the cage for a few hours to calm them down. One of them bit me, but it wasn’t serious at all. More of a warning bite. Later in the afternoon, they ate the vege kibbles and all three fell asleep inside the cage.
By the time we had finished getting every dog into the enclosures (each one had to be carried), my tshirt had every kind of stain you could think of – faecal, vomit, mud, soil. You name it, I’ve got it.
Ahh…visitors!
Lisa decided to take this one home. She figured the helpers on the farm might not know how to take care of his long hair. His hair was so badly matted up, we weren’t even sure if he was male or female! But I suspect he is some sort of pedigree.
Lisa wanted to take this scruffy little one too, but Bro Sui and the helpers wanted him as their pet, so he got to stay. Bro Sui instructed the helpers to cut his hair short and give him a bath soon.
We only brought eggs on this trip. There was no space in the car for vege kibbles this round because we had to carry all the cages in our cars, maximising the space. We will bring the kibbles on our next trip.
Before we left, we made one round to look at the dogs again, but from afar. By then, they had all settled in and were calm. I did not want to excite them unnecessarily again.
Our run-away renegade (the black dog) was nearby. I wonder if he wanted to get into the enclosure with his buddies? Never mind, we’ll just leave him alone for now.
By the way, we saw at least six of the Ketam dogs we had rehomed months ago.
Here’s one of them.
And here’s another one. I think this is Liberty, though I’m not sure. Liberty is now Mr Mariappan’s pet. She even sleeps right outside his bedroom, and goes with him on his daily rounds to feed the fish, goats, etc. Liberty looks very healthy.
Well, no LLLP posting is ever complete without a photo of Peter Pan – the ever-green and ever-friendly farm dog here.
We’ll come see you again, Peter Pan!
We rescued a total of 15 females and 21 males from the Klang Dog Pound today. Lisa took one home, so that’s 35 now, boarding at LLLP.
When we were on our way to Bentong, a Chinese reporter called my handphone and wanted to know about today’s rescue and specifically WHERE we were rehoming the dogs to. I wonder why she wanted to know. As I was trying so hard to save my phone battery for important calls, I said I could not speak to her then. She called me again, on our way back, to ask the same question. I asked her why, but she would not tell me. I just told her I did not need any press publicity. People who genuinely want to help would read my blog and keep up with our news. And they would forward the links to other interested friends. That is enough for us. I wonder who alerted the press…. Anyway, if the reporter wants, she can always read my blog. I do not want press publicity for all the wrong reasons!
Our next course of action is the following:
1. Get the dogs spayed/neutered as soon as we can. We would be bringing our vet up to Bentong to get this done. The cost is RM150 per dog.
2. Get the dogs rehomed to Bentong people, or even Klang Valley people, if they do not mind travelling up to Bentong to get the dogs. If interested, please write to me.
IMPORTANT: If anyone of you reading this posting see your lost dog in the photos, please let me know. You may reclaim your dog from us.
While at the pound, I also wanted to take yesterday’s “catch” (the six healthy-looking dogs), but I was told not to, in case their owners come to reclaim them. But every dog that comes into the pound is only give one week to live after which he/she will be euthanised.
Please help us in whatever way you can.
Please do not forget that though we have rescued 36 dogs today, there would be more coming into the Klang Pound (or other pounds) next week, and the week after that, etc. Please encourage everyone to do CNRM as a longterm solution to this perpetual, seemingly never-ending problem. It will end (or at least be reduced) with active CNRM from the community, but we have to start it somewhere and everyone has to help.
Please also remember that the dogs in the Klang Pound are only fed discarded bread. If you’d like to help them get a decent meal, please bring dog food (or cooked chicken and rice) to the pound and feed them yourself.
Address: Pusat Kurungan Haiwan, Kawasan Perindustrian Bandar Sultan Sulaiman, North Port
Tomorrow, I would still need to go to MPK to settle the reclaimation fee for today’s rescue mission. It was not waived, but reduced (this reduction is from the kind efforts of En Zakaria, who spoke up for us at the meeting yesterday). We wish to thank him for this kind favour.
We also wish to thank the vets who helped us at the pound, Dr Yap and Dr Khor, who made time for us despite their work schedules.
And Lisa, for joining us on this rescue mission and getting us Dr Yap. Mandy, for helping us with the planning. Erica and Alicia, for the kind and encouraging smses while we were doing the work today. It helps very much to know you are rooting for us, albeit from far away.
We want to again, thank Bro Jeen Lim, for letting us use his lorry without which there would be no rescue. And of course, LLLP, for consenting to accept these dogs under such short notice.
And last but not least, thank YOU, everyone, for your moral support and kind blessings.
May all beings be well and happy (and free from being euthanised).
Note: The reason why this posting came up so late is that the moment I got home at 6pm, I had to rush down to KL to deliver a public talk. One wrong turning, and I landed up in Bangsar, and got horribly lost for more than one hour in the dreadful rainy weekday KL-jam. I finally reached my destination, delivered my talk, and got home, after crawling through the federal highway, at 11pm and had my dinner. But that’s life. You pack as much as you can into each day, because you’d want to go to bed with the feeling that the day’s been worth living. And, if perchance, you die in your sleep, you can go peacefully knowing that you’ve done your best for the day.
Isn’t that all that matters?
Goodnight, sweet dreams, little doggies….please feel safe now, because you ARE safe.
Comments
9 responses to “36 innocent lives rescued today (Klang Dog Pound)”
Hi Kah Yein,
So very glad and proud that the Klang pound's dogs have YOU, every life is precious, although we are far away, I've been following your every post on this, and so relief that most of them are safe now.
Despite all the huhas, you are doing the right thing. Those so-call BIG organisation, they want only publicity, totally dissapointed on them.
Please keep on moving, u have our support here.
Rgds
joogyee
great Job… i asking around to my frenz if any1 wana adopt… the moment i gt any1.. will let u know.. 🙂
sorry…Only this i could do for nw…
While other practised Nato (No Action Talk Only), AnimalCare moved to save the lives of 36 dogs from execution.
If the dogs could talk they would have said they prefer to eat vege food to being executed. They have every right to live in this world too, why should humans take that right away by killing them just because they are living on the streets? After all, it was the humans who threw them into the streets in the first place.
Why can't the human community in their respective areas help look after them?
By not doing anything, the others have waived the right to criticise AnimalCare for its actions in saving the dogs and taking them to the Lotus Life Liberation Park.
Bravo AnimalCare! You showed the Nato practitioners how pound animals can be saved… in other words talk less, do more!
Animal lovers in this country should now do their bit by donating to AnimalCare to help in the dogs' upkeep.
may god bless those unlucky one…may they free from suffering and near to god..
you did a great job and i wish all malaysian will do the same.. NO KILL POLICY..
my company is donating to charities every end of the year.. i will talk to my boss to alocate some to Animal care and MDDB
God bless u . will keep you inform
MAY GOD BLESS YOU FOR THE GOOD WORK AND YOUR DEDICATION AND I AM SURA THE DOGS ARE FOREVER THANKFUL TO YOU FOR SAVING THEM.
GOD BLESS YOU
ELAINE CHAN M
sadhu sadhu sadhu
Thank you, everyone, for your very kind messages of support and encouragement. I'm very touched, and at times like these, when conditions are not ideal and we can only do our best, your messages have been extremely comforting.
Yet, there are those who must still criticise. So far, there is only one person – thank goodness!
He/she wrote to me, without a single word of encouragement and no pat on the back. Instead, he/she chided me for not rescuing the dog with the facial wound. He/she I should have.
Does he/she know the circumstances I was working under? Does he/she know the conditions set by LLLP? And most importantly, did he/she do anything better?
I hope he/she has read my latest postings. We rescued the dog today, and I called her Cinderella. Not because this critic chided us, but because someone else gave us the conditions to do it.
It is so easy to criticise others, but as I have always said, have you done better yourself? Why not be supportive and constructive instead? What good is criticism? It only creates ill-will. Nobody benefits.
Super Heros, All of you. A very touching story, I had goose bumps all over while reading this.
A standing ovation to your purpose!
i was in tears when i seen the dogs lying there dead , i have two dogs myself and liove them to bits , i think its good what you are doing, keep up the good work,
chris,liverpool,england