It’s almost midnight, and I have to get up early tomorrow for clinics, and I should probably
still be cramming for my Spanish final tomorrow. But I HAVE to blog right now,
because if I don’t I’ll probably going to go insane. When I signed up for this
trip to the DR, I knew that it’d see a lot of people living in extremely bad
conditions. But I never thought that I’d see so many animals living in such
horrible conditions. I feel nauseous just thinking about all of this. If you'd rather not read about the very sobering animal neglect/cruelty here, stop reading now. Seriously. I won't be offended.
I don’t
know why this is bothering me so much. I love animals and all, but I’m not an
animal-rights-activist by any means. I eat meat, even though I know the animals
are treated cruelly. I support testing new medications on animals, as long as
it’s as humane as possible. But I literally can’t focus on anything else other
than the dogs. Maybe it’s because of the constant barking. Or maybe it’s
because of the fact that I have seen so much suffering by these animals, and
then seen people not care/make it worse, and on top of that, being told there
is nothing I can do to help.
There are
stray dogs everywhere. I’ve gotten used to seeing them just walking around. But
within the past week or so, I’ve seen way too many puppies. While I was walking
to a café the other day, a little golden retriever/mutt started following my
friend and I. He wove between our feet, and looked up longingly at us. Most of
the puppies here are born with a sense of hopelessness, and with absolute
despair in their eyes. If you coo at them, they sink into a corner, and try to
make themselves smaller. But this puppy had a smaller glimmer of hope in his
eyes. And I know that sounds super lame and all, but I felt like if I could get
this puppy to a vet to get vaccinated, and then washed him up, I could have
taken him home and he would have grown up to be a loyal dog.
I saw
another one of these rare, hopeful puppies at the beach this past weekend. My
friends and I went to sit down in our chairs, and a puppy crawled out from the
shade beneath one of our chairs. He hung out near us for a while, but spent
most of the time hiding in the shade. There was one point when he playfully
pounced on my toes, but other than that brief moment, he tried to stay out of
our way.
Today in
the clinics, we passed by a tiny, black puppy that looked like it had just
recently opened it’s eyes. He had what was left of some caution tape tied
around his neck. I felt so bad for this little guy, so as I entered the clinic,
I whistled at him, and he (very cautiously) followed me in. I figured he would
weave between my feet, or pounce on my toes like the last two, but when I
turned around, I saw him collapsed in the middle of the cool tile floor right
at the entrance. I went to put my white coat down really fast, but when I
returned, the puppy with the caution tape was gone.
I like to
think that somebody just shooed him out, but I know that in reality, it was
probably a lot harsher than that. Someone probably kicked him out, literally.
He probably scampered off to find shelter somewhere. Given his age and the fact
that he’s got that caution tape choking him, he probably won’t live much
longer.
But the
thing is, here no one cares. It’s just another pest to them. Like I said,
people would probably kick him, if he got in their way. It took so much
strength to not pick any of these dogs up, but I know that doing so would be
dangerous. They don’t trust people, and it’s likely they would freak out, or
try to attack. They are also full of diseases, and there are many cases of
rabies that go around here.
There has
been a new gang of strays that has been hanging out in the street in front of
our apartments. There are 4 males, and 1 female. For the past three days now,
I’ve seen a major fight at least once a day. The four dogs tackle each other,
scratch each other’s faces up, and bite at each other’s throats. It’s so
violent. Usually three end up whimpering away, while the other goes and claims
the female as his prize. She’s usually found hiding under some car, trying to
avoid all of the males. After that, they all come back together, and continue
wandering the streets together. There’s always so much tension, and they’re
always growling and snarling and barking at each other until the next fight
happens. Just now I saw one of the dogs laying in the shade of a car. I did a
double take once I registered that something was off. The dog’s front left leg
was bend almost ninety degrees right in the middle. It’s leg was completely
broken.
Usually I
wouldn’t feel this bad. I mean, it’s just a dog, and I’m sure that there are
people here who are suffering more than that dog is. But the thing is, if a
person had a broken arm, everyone would care. At the sound of a car accident,
everyone drops what they are doing to go help. If anyone is sick or injured,
the family will stop at nothing to get them the care they need. Almost no one
is homeless, because no matter how poor the families are, they give each other
shelter when they have no where else to go. The families here are always
advocating for each other, and always taking care of each other. But it’s the
exact opposite for the stray dogs. No one cares. No one is going to take care
of the broken arm. The dog is probably going to limb around until he dies.
He’ll probably end up rotting on a curb somewhere.
I’ve always
appreciated the work of the Humane Society, ASPCA, PETA, and even animal
control. But I’ve never realized how big of an impact they have on my daily life.
We are so lucky to live in a society where we don’t witness cruelty, dogfights,
strays, and animal suffering and death on a daily basis. I can’t wait to go
home and pet my cats, and my brother’s dog, and my uncle’s dog the way I wish I
could with all of the dogs here. It’s
going to be rough trying to get any sleep tonight…
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