Remember her? She is the one with the facial wound, and she wanted very much to go with us yesterday, but our vet reminded us that we had no vet in Bentong to treat her, and her wounds might go from bad to worse. Also, LLLP had set the condition that we could only bring in healthy dogs, approved by vets.
My heart was very heavy all day, and the picture of her standing up looking at her friends being loaded into cages and then, onto the lorry, was playing in my mind all day, even while we were in Bentong. I felt so bad, but our hands were tight. Our resources were so limited and we had to work within them.
I really wished I could take her because I could feel that she wanted to go with us.
This morning, my wish came true!
MDDB’s Wani saw my posting (and the dog’s photo) and offered to find a fosterer for her if I could get her out of the pound. I jumped at the chance! I almost couldn’t believe this…
So, off we went for another round of (totally unplanned) rescue work. Also, we had to take the mother-dog and her four puppies, whom MDDB was going to foster as well.
And yes, we missed this one two days ago when we did the 12-puppy rescue. He had gone into the drain to hide and we couldn’t get him out. This afternoon, he was out in the open, so I decided to catch him unawares before he scuttled into the drain again.
I went real close, from behind, as stealthily as I could….shh….gosh, I could see (and so can you) two huge ticks on his back. And…
I caught him!
Ouch, ouch, he was so fast, he turned around and bit me real hard! And it bled profusely. Well, that’s a “good thing” because bleeding sheds toxins. Still, puppy bites are quite toxic, I know. Well, never mind, I just had my anti-tetanus shot a few months ago.
I quickly put him in a cage, but he bit me some more! Strong and confident little guy, I must say… Mr Balu was surprised how I caught him when he saw him in the cage. “Dia gigit lah…”, he said (translation: he bites).
I showed him my bleeding finger….oh yes, he sure bites!
Gotcha!!
I looked into every enclosure…
Another dog had died…
New dogs had come in. Some looked very healthy, like these.
We finally managed to get the mother-dog…
Here are her four newborn puppies.
Since yesterday, after we left, two new batches of dogs had been brought in and amongst these, were five new puppies.
I called MDDB and asked if they could find fosterers and they said yes. So I told Mr Balu we’d take them all. Three of them were quite fierce. Mr Balu liked one of them and said he would be taking it back as his pet.
So, we took the four. Sorry guys, you have to squeeze a bit. It’s just a short ride to the vet’s. It’s a ride that can save your life, so please bear with it.
Now, it’s your turn….I’m calling her “Cinderella”, or Cindy, for short (the one with the facial wound).
Mr Balu (the caretaker) says she used to be fat, but all I see now is skin and bones.
Even En Zakaria told me that this morning – that the dogs are fat when brought in, but after a week, they are stick thin already and can even squeeze through the bars. Well, that is not surprising if bread is the only thing fed to them…
Cindy followed me out as I opened the door – she understood. I hugged her and told her I would be taking her to a safe place. I told her I was so sorry I could not take her yesterday.
I told Mr Balu to put a rope around her neck as a leash, just in case. I was not about to lose her. Absolutely not!
So, after loading the ten of them (the mother and four puppies, and another four puppies, and the drain-dweller), I led Cindy into the car with me. She followed me most willingly, with Mr Balu holding the leash.
In the car, I made her stand and rest her front paws on my chest. She is so big!! Mr Balu said bye-bye to her.
As we drove, Cindy decided she wasn’t too comfortable and started fidgetting. She finally stepped up and snuggled up on my lap. Ahh…that’s more like it. I could also hug her all the way. What bliss….
When we finally reached the clinic, it was raining (again!). We got all the dogs out in the rain, and into the clinic.
Cindy was examined first. We were so glad (and quite surprised) to learn that she was tested negative for parvo, distemper and heartworm. Wow…a very strong girl! (despite being exposed to so much disease at the pound).
The vet said the wound looked like an acid scald. Gosh…human cruelty knows no bounds. Cindy is such a loving creature, who could do such a cruel thing to her?
But I’m so glad I had the chance to rescue her, and now, MDDB will look after her.
A fosterer came to collect the mother-dog and her four puppies.
Here they are – the newborns.
The other puppies were also examined, but we could not stay on. Traffic was building up and we had to go home.
Another day of rescue….
Tomorrow, more dogs will fill up the pounds in Klang….and other pounds as well.
Please help us spread this message – do not ever abandon your pets, and please practise CNRM – it saves lives.
Comments
10 responses to ““Cinderella” and 10 more rescued today (Klang Dog Pound)”
Dear Kah Yein
You are an absolute angel. Thank you for helping the dogs. The dogs will be grateful to you for having another second chance. God bless you
Good job to Animal Care and Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB). By working together, you guys have managed to save these dogs from being put to sleep.
Bravo to Animal Care & MDDB… U guys r their guarding angels… All Da Best…
I'm so very happy you managed to save Cindy! 😀
I also felt so bad for her that she could not be saved the day before. I actually felt that because of her condition, the more we should save her. And yes, miracles do happen!
I think she will be a wonderful pet 🙂
Many thanks to MDDB too for making this possible 🙂
I understand that everyone wanted Cinderella to be saved. So did I. Very much. I asked the vet a few times if we could take her and he said no. He said there would be no vet to treat her wound at LLLP – this a valid fact. While I thank those who are supportive and see the positive in everything, there are also some who are very quick to criticise. They do not know the constraints I had. They do not know the limitations imposed by LLLP where I could only take the ones certified healthy by the vet. They do not know how much harder it is for me, being there physically, and having to leave the sick ones behind.
I told the vet today that Cinderella had been rescued and he said it was even harder for him to have to be the one to choose who got to go and who did not.
It is very easy for armchair critics to issue all the "should haves" now. My question to them is, why didn't you do something yourself? Since you did not, do you think you are in the position to criticise now? And the bottom line is, Cinderella is already saved.
I even have a critic who said I "should have" taken 40 dogs instead of 36. She does not even know that I was never GIVEN 40 places. I appealed for them. And does she know our space constraint – cages and the space on the lorry? And our time constraint? Did she know that two dogs had to go in one of our volunteer's car and that one dog even poo-ed in her car?
She even said I should go back next week and rescue more dogs from the pound. Would she be offering me funds and a sanctuary to rehome the dogs, I wonder…
To all the armchair critics, please do the work yourself first, before you speak.
To all the big mouths sitting in the high and mighty armchairs, please shut your traps. you weren't there, so don't talk.
Let's give credit to kahyein and her volunteers. Rather than harshly criticising her and her volunteers for not rescuing poor Cindy, let's think of the constraints that they were working under.
They were told by LLLP that only healthy dogs would be accepted at the sanctuary.
It definitely must have broken KahYein's heart to leave poor Cindy behind on the first day. She had no choice because she was advised by one of the vets that Cindy may be diseased. And with LLLP's condition, KahYein had no choice but to leave Cindy behind.
But given the opportunity on the second day, KahYein immediately went to rescue Cindy from the pound.
One shouldnt jump to conclusion that nothing was done to rescue Cindy. It is easy for one to make that judgement from the armchair without being there yourself.
Critics, where were you in the days leading up to the rescue of the dogs from Klang pound? I asked the other animal welfare groups what they were doing.
SPCA sent out the initial info in their newsletter. But when I called the SPCA, the girl who took my call was dismissive and arrogant. I think her name was Aznah. She said to me that SPCA was doing nothing because Klang pound puts dogs to sleep all the time. She sounded bored and irritated with my enquiry. She went on to say that they themselves (the SPCA) “put dogs to sleep all the time”. She talked about putting dogs to sleep like discussing throwing out bags of rubbish – just another daily chore. She was indifferent.
Later that day, I called the SPCA again. This time I spoke to Chelvy who confirmed that SPCA was not saving the dogs from Klang dog pound. She said that SPCA had shown the council pound workers how to put dogs down humanely. The smugness in her voice made me burn: the SPCA's job – telling the Council how to put dogs to sleep 'humanely' – was done.
MDDB said that they were looking for fosterers for the dogs but didn't know how many dogs there were nor how much it would cost to remove the dogs (ie the reclamation fees). They seemed a little lost but they were trying to mobilise help for the dogs.
Independent Pet Rescuers (IPR) didn't even bother return my calls.
Only Kah Yein had some sort of plan. A plan that she then put into action to achieve a more favourable outcome for the dogs.
I say "more favourable" outcome 'cos the only other outcome was that none of the dogs would be saved – they would all have been put to sleep.
Once Kah Yein had MPK's agreement over the deadline extension, MDDB stepped in to foster the puppies. That was a great help 'cos they couldn't have gone to LLLP. Puppies need a level of care that LLLP could not have provided.
40 dogs was what Kah Yein's original rescue was for but in the end she rescued more than 40: 12 puppies on Monday, 36 dogs on Tuesday and 11 dogs on Wednesday.
Where were you, smart-mouthed critics, while she was doing all this? How many dogs did you rescue in the same 3 days? Kah Yein could have just taken the dogs that were OKed for LLLP and said, job done, and walked away. Instead she went back on Wednesday (after MDDB stepped in to offer fostering) for the ones that could not go to LLLP. Fortunately, again MDDB could offer fostering help.
Smart mouthed critic who say "why didn't she take the dogs out on Tuesday with the others even if she couldn't leave them at LLLP?", THE CAGES AND THE LORRY WERE FULL. There was nowhere else to put the dogs if we had taken them out on Tuesday because we all immediately went down to LLLP to settle the dogs in.
The soonest Kah Yein could go back for them was Wednesday. Before we left for LLLP, Kah Yein spoke to En Zakaria and the pound staff and begged them – yes, begged them – not to put down the dogs because she would come back to take more away on Wednesday. If she had not done so, the vet would have come in on Tuesday itself and all the remaining dogs would have been killed.
Armchair critics – whose lives were you begging for on Tuesday, if any at all?
To those of you who aren't happy with the way we rescued the Klang pound dogs and think you can do things better, please, instead of sitting there with your "should haves" after the fact, get off your arse and do some rescuing yourselves.
There are still many dogs left at Klang pound with more arriving everyday. It is the same at all the local council pounds: dogs awaiting the same fate – euthanasia. If yours is a better plan with a better outcome then good for the dogs. Unfortunately, there isn't a shortage of dogs needing to be rescued.
If sending the dogs to LLLP was not to your liking either, please feel free to set up your own animal sanctuary for there aren't enough of those either.
reading Cindy's story actually brought tears to my eyes. thank you so much for being so persistent in wanting to rescue her…and thanks to MDDB too! may you be blessed!!
You guys are such Angels…God bless!