Mon 14th Nov: Heartbeaking choices

This work is never easy but there are times when it is really, really hard.  The AFCD dogs catchers have been out in force and have been bringing back so many puppies to their Pokfulam Centre that it’s just impossible for me to take them all.  There is no chance for these babies with death being the only inevitable result, and it breaks my heart.  I want to take all of those politicians who choose to ignore the situation and make them look at those puppies, make them pick them up and feel their warm innocence, the lick of their tongues and the wiggle of their tails – and then watch them die.  It’s so easy to pretend this isn’t happening when you never step foot inside one of these “death camps”, to wave and smile at the voters while the dogs are being murdered, but that doesn’t make it less of a reality.

And this is just the Pokfulam Animal Management Centre (and don’t you just love that word “management”), and I know the situation is just as bad – probably even worse – in the New Territories, although Pokfulam does cover the Outlying Islands,  and there are many puppies coming in from Lamma where the stray dog population is out of control.  This is thanks to AFCD themselves who stopped all of the TNR (Trap, Neuter and Return) that was so successfully controlling the Lamma dog problem, and now puppies are being born non-stop.  There is a whole new group of them now at Pokfulam AFCD and many more still out there, born to die and with no chance of a home.

Benny (left) is 3 years old, and Jenny is 6

At least I’m still able to take the small dogs, and there were two surrenders there today, a male and female shih tzu.  As always I asked the reason for the dogs being given up and it was that same old story of a human baby having arrived.  I went into the kennel where the two little dogs were, looking very scared, and sat on the floor, waiting.  First the female came to me, sniffing my shoes and then my jeans before moving up to my hand and climbing onto my lap. The boy was less forthcoming, but he was happy to sit on my knee during the drive to Acorn Vet Hospital, by which time both dogs were snuggly and affectionate.  I was told their names were Tsai Tsai and Bobo (how original), but they are now Benny and Jenny.  Jenny turned out to have an infected uterus (pyometra) so it was lucky for her that her owners had dumped her, because this is a potentially fatal condition (which is totally preventable by desexing).

We are getting close to a sell-out for Peak to Fong, so if you have ignored my warnings about leaving it to the last minute you may well be disappointed if you don’t buy your ticket very soon.  We will be at Discovery Bay this Saturday and will have T-shirts there (they are the tickets), and raffle tickets too, so you can catch us there if you live in the area (or just want to visit).  I will also be sending a supply of my adorable puppies over and they will be available for adoption.