DOG ABANDONED IN SS19/4

Sunday, 7 February 2010

DOG ABANDONED IN SS19/4

A DOG`S BEST FRIEND ?

In Subang Jaya by and large an affluent community many people have dogs just as they have maids to look after their welfare. Not everyone is a dog lover of course and only keep dogs to guard their homes. What happens when they grow old or fall sick? Sometimes the poor devils are just abandoned and left to fend for themselves

Let me recount a recent happening somewhere in SS 19/4. I woke up to the sound of a dog barking, actually more like whimpering in pain. Looking out of my upstairs window, I saw a small crowd of neighbours amongst them my two children looking down into the drain. As I joined the crowd, I saw that it was a little dog that looked like Grey Friars Bobby lying in the wet drain in a half-dead condition. As nobody else was doing anything, I fished the shivering dog out of the drain, put him in a box with old clothes in it and gave him something to eat and drink. On further examination we found that he was badly hurt and obviously in pain. What hurt even more was that the owner not wanting it any more decided to get rid of it by throwing it into the drain. My children and I then took it to the vet who advised that it may not survive despite treatment and so we reluctantly had him put to sleep and returned home RM 160 poorer with the carcass for burial which if we had left it to the clinic would have cost another RM 100.

On a second occasion only a couple of weeks ago, I was jogging in my neighbourhood after dark when I suddenly came upon a dog that looked like a boxer (breed) standing on the roadside as if it was lost. Having overcome my initial fear I walked past it thinking that by the time I came round again it wound have returned home but there it was further down the road, panting and breathing heavily and foaming slightly at the mouth. I carried on with my jog but on returning home found the dog in front of my gate with my dog barking at it from the inside. Fortunately the neighbourhood security guards were walking by and came to investigate. One of them who seemed to have experience in handling dogs approached it and coaxed it into their custody and with the help of a spare leash that I gave them escorted it back to their pondok. Though a few days have passed no one has come to claim it. Looks like another case of an abandoned dog by its owner perhaps because it was sick.

It is indeed saddening that such things happen in our up market neighborhood. The people who do this may live in big houses and drive big cars but have small hearts. Whether it is old folks, imperfect maids or sick dogs, there are some in our community who will ditch them without the slightest stirring of their conscience.