Thursday, March 1, 2012
The Defu Siblings - Innocent Lives Uprooted by Society
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| Gravy, Charcoal, Blackie |
These boys are 3 brothers who used to stay in a factory in Defu Lane. These mongrels have endured hardship, suffered persecution, and survived in the harsh urban landscape which is Singapore, despite all odds.
Gravy, Charcoal and Blackie (Left - Right) are 1 year old. They were born stray, dumped into a drain shortly after birth, and left to die. Fortunately, a kind lady came across them, and rescued them from the drain. The kind lady became their feeder and caregiver - she provided them with food, water, and love. She also found a factory owner who agreed to let them stay in his premises in Defu Lane.
The Defu Siblings are extremely affectionate. Gravy and Blackie are the smaller of the 3 (10- 12kg), while Charcoal is much larger (~20kg). They all get along very well with humans and other dogs. Gravy loves to jump up to his feeder to saw hi; Charcoal will always approach us and offers his paw in greeting; Blackie wags his tail furiously everytime we approach.
The 3 brothers have spent their whole lives together, but their lives changed when people started complaining about the dogs in the area. Some said dogs were chasing cars, others said they were barking.
When AVA receives complaints about dogs in an area, it does not matter which dogs are responsible - there is no way of finding out. Contracted Dog Catchers come, lay their traps, and catch as many dogs as they can from the area - they are paid by the number of dogs they bring to AVA, so the more they catch, the fatter the paycheck. This is something I have a big problem with. It is like dropping a nuclear bomb on an entire housing estate to catch a single rapist. I will continue to push for the dog catching renumeration policies to be amended.
All 3 brothers were caught - naturally, since these are 3 of the most friendly dogs I have ever seen. They will willingly snuggle up to the dog catchers. Their feeder, the kind lady, bailed them out successfully. However, having no other place to house them, she had no choice but to place them back into the factory at Defu Lane again, clearly flouting the rules set by AVA that dogs being bailed out have to be licensed and housed in a permanent address.
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| Blackie, fur ravaged by Mange, but beautiful still |
Bailing out a dog impounded a second time is difficult - You had to ensure that the dog will NEVER stray again, and be properly accounted for. To make things worse, Blackie was suffering from Mange - a skin condition caused by mites burrowing into the skin, which could potentially be contagious to other dogs and humans. It took me 2 weeks to negotiate his release, largely due to the fact that it was impossible to find lodging for a dog with Mange.
On the morning I decided to go ahead and bail Blackie out from AVA, in fact, I did not have a concrete plan. I was going to bring him to the vet, do a skin scrapping, prove that he had Demodectic Mange instead of Sacoptic Mange (kennels will accept a dog with Demodectic but not Sacoptic mange as the former is less contagious to other dogs and cannot spread to humans), then place him in kennel. If he indeed turned out to be harbouring Sacoptic Mange (or Scabies as it is known in humans), I would be stuck with no backup plan. But Blackie had been in AVA for 22 days - I had to bring him out regardless.
So when the vet ran the test and confirmed that Blackie had SACOPTIC Mange, I sat in the clinic, literally lost and quite desperate. By a miracle, the vet was immediately drawn to Blackie's sweet nature, and offered to keep him in her isolation ward until his skin condition was cured. The relief and gratitude I felt left me in tears.
But Blackie was not the end of the story. Gravy and Charcoal had to be relocated as well, or they would too, be reimpounded. Ever since Blackie was caught 3 weeks ago, Gravy had been refusing to eat - he was steadily losing weight. Both Charcoal and Gravy missed their brother dearly. Dogs have very keen extra sensory perception - they knew that their brother was in danger.
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| Charcoal awaits his brothers in kennel |
I had no choice but to uproot Gravy and Charcoal from the place they called home, and place them into a shelter with hundreds of other barking dogs. They did not take it very well of course - it was like being thrown into prison; Both brothers continued to lose weight.
After a week of appealing on Facebook, Gravy found a fosterer, and has been sent to his temporary home. He is still adjusting, and was vomiting and having diarrhea due to adjustment issues.
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| Blackie with his new best friend - his vet |
Worse off is Charcoal. Due to his size, finding a fosterer or adopter for him is less easy. He is the last Defu Slibing left in kennel. A far cry from his previous friendly self, Charcoal is now listless, waiting at the entrance of the compound everyday for his brothers to return.
Ironically, Blackie is now the best well off. He has integrated well into his new surroundings, and has become inseparable from his vet. But again, he does not know that his current blissful state is only temporary - when his Mange is cured, he will be placed in a kennel, awaiting a permanent home again.
If you ever get the chance to meet the Defu siblings, like me, you will be asking - why in the world did people complain about such sweet and friendly darlings like them? Perhaps they were the offending dogs, or perhaps they just happened to be in the area with other dogs people complained about, but it does not matter. The truth is that complaints from the public have forced these boys to be relocated, homeless, and living from day to day.
Singaporeans do not know (or at least I choose to believe that they do not) that once they complain, they are slapping a death sentence on the heads of many innocent lives. It is very easy to sit in front of the computer, type a few words and hit the send button, but once a complain is received by AVA, dogs will be caught, starting with the friendly ones. The luckier ones like the Defu boys will be rescued by volunteers, while the less fortunate ones will be put to sleep.
Hundreds of complaint emails are received by the AVA every week. Yes, some of these dog nuisances are definitely true, but I refuse to believe that in our urban city, there are hundreds of cases of stray dogs running amok in populated areas disturbing the public peace every week. Most stray dogs are terrified as hell of humans. They would rather be off hiding rather than out attacking humans.
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| Poor Gravy has lost alot of weight |
The AVA has come a long way in terms of working with AWGs to manage strays. In this case, they worked constructively with me in bailing out Blackie, and explained to me the requirements of housing and treating Blackie's mange should I decide to bail him out. On my appeal, they agreed not to go after the Defu boys' feeder and her friend who flouted their rules. Of course, they are not perfect (no Government agencies are!!), and have a long way to go, but at least they are listening and are working on it.
What really saddens me is how intolerant Singaporeans have become. We complain at the drop of a hat, unwilling to explore any other methods of solving the problem. What's worse, Singaporeans have become a race of people who complain about everything, then expect the government to immediately solve the problem for them.
See a dog - call AVA, and then pester them daily until the dog is removed. That seems to be the norm now. I know that for a fact - I receive love letters from AVA every week telling me my neighbours have sent nasty emails to them about my dogs. And my 3 dogs are all licensed, never unleashed, and do not bark unless someone comes to my door.
See a dog - call AVA, and then pester them daily until the dog is removed. That seems to be the norm now. I know that for a fact - I receive love letters from AVA every week telling me my neighbours have sent nasty emails to them about my dogs. And my 3 dogs are all licensed, never unleashed, and do not bark unless someone comes to my door.
Each time a complaint is received, lives are uprooted, destroyed, or lost. Each time rescuers learn that AVA is coming to catch dogs in an area, they are faced with extreme stress and the insurmountable odds of rescuing these innocent lives. Its an impossible battle for us rescuers until the day Singaporeans learn to be tolerant and co-exist with others - not only humans, but animals as well.
I have said this about each dog I meet, but the Defu boys have taught me much. From them, I learned that you do not need words to express how you feel - their actions and body language were enough to convey their sorrow and longing for each other to be safe. I never knew brotherly love can be so strong amongst dogs, until I had the privilege of meeting them. Their undying, fighting spirit, even in the face of adversity, is something we should all learn from.
For now, I will continue hoping that they will eventually find good homes soon.
Hawk
Hawk
