There are days that shake you to your core in life. Yesterday was one of them.
It all started when I sat down to have a bite to eat and the phone pinged. Someone I know believed their dogs had been poisoned along with some on my feeding round.
I left my dinner and jumped on the moped and broke every speed limit on the way there…
10 Dogs Poisoned
I feed 80 dogs every single day myself and have been doing so for just over 3 years. They aren’t exactly my pets but you grow very fond of them.
I act as a sort of guardian to them and often joke to myself they don’t need to worry about food, healthcare or paying bills. For the most part they live a very decent life apart from the odd road traffic accident or illness. I’ve only lost a handful in 3 years. Yesterday that all changed…
It was indeed a mass poisoning
At least 10 dogs targeted
Despite our best efforts 2 dogs died
One dog is missing presumed dead
6-7 Dogs had symptoms but have survived
Those bullet points don’t convey the suffering, the panic, the crawling under shacks or the sheer terror. I watched 2 dogs overnight and at the vets in comas with their central nervous systems wrecked. Part of me wished they had been poisoned more effectively and died instantly to avoid the suffering. It wasn’t pretty.
Ironically It’s Humans Who Give Me Hope
It would be very easy to be angry and resentful of all humans at times like this. What I see however is the opposite. I’ve never seen so many people rally around in real time to help…
Dog lovers like Valeria out until 1am helping keep the dogs alive
Staff coming in at 6am to do anything that could help
Vets working all day trying to keep dogs alive and calling more staff in
People digging graves and picking flowers to give them dignity
Friends offering to drive or do anything manual
The list goes on and on. Sometimes it takes the worst things in life to show you just how wonderful most humans are. There was an air of sadness among us all but 20 odd people did everything they could for those dogs. Most humans are not evil.
Finding Solutions
As well as trying to keep as many of the dogs alive as possible it was an emergency situation…
We managed to get medicines into all the worrying cases
Got the remaining dogs moved to a temple on the other side of the island
Worked with the kind local monk to support him
People will always ask me what about prosecution or consequences. There are some things we can do but it is incredibly difficult. We are hiring a community officer to police this and build out deterrents. That can’t come soon enough.
For obvious reasons I can’t speak too much online. All I can do is help the dogs. I also have to be mindful that if people are willing to poison 10-15 dogs my own safety is not exactly 100% assured. Everybody knows who is feeding them and that I am a foreigner.
In some ways I can understand or get my head around a hit and run with a car on a dog. I can even understand abuse like hitting a dog. What I will never be able to understand is the premeditated planning of poisoning a group of innocent dogs. Going out to buy the poison. Mixing it into food. Not asking me to move the dogs. Etc etc.
I’m Broken But There Is Always Hope
It happened on Monday and I got into bed at about 1am and as the adrenalin wore off my body crashed. I had possibly one of the worst panic attacks I’ve had in years. One so bad I thought I was going to die. I guess it’s a mild form of PTSD or shock of seeing creatures you love being targeted and dying in front of your eyes.
That anxiety and exhaustion continued the next day as we managed to get the other dogs to safety. With the rest of the dogs sure to get poisoned you just have to find that extra emergency gear.
What keeps me going are the wins we have. Like little Leonardo who came in the very same day and who is recovering. Or Bowie and Prince arriving to their forever homes in Europe. Along with all the people who help and support the dogs this shows me that there is always more good in the world than evil.
We can’t win every individual battle but are winning more than we lose.
I refuse to be broken by situations like this. A huge set back yes but If anything this makes me more determined to fix the problem for street dogs around the world. It lights the fire in my belly.
I’m not sure written words could convey how I feel right now so I made this video right after it happened on Youtube…
I wish my email was a positive one and that this life saving dogs was all a bed of roses but this our reality at times.
The easy option would be to say…”nah this is too hard and the suffering too much to take” and to walk away from the mission. The heart hurts so much at times that it would cross my mind. But only for a milli second. The dogs have no voice, they need our help and I need to keep tackling the problem head on.
It’s a setback and I’m sad but evil will never win over kindness.
Big Love
Niall
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Just awful. I have bought a year’s subscription for my partner instead of chocolates & a pressie for Valentine’s. She’ll love to help.
What a heartbreaking post, I’ll never understand how some can mistreat and abuse dogs. The work you and the team are doing is nothing short of incredible.