This evening while on our regular feeding rounds, we visited and checked on Mookie and to bring him some home cooked food. Volunteers cleaned Mookie’s ears and eyes as well as applied Frontline and dewormed him. While we were doing this, the kind security uncle that cares for Mookie came over to us, and with tears in his eyes, informed us that Tang Tang was dead. Tang Tang was Mookie’s best buddy, they lived in the same factory. We were shocked. Tang Tang was not young, but he certainly was healthier than Mookie. Then came the horrific tale of how Tang Tang died.
With more tears in his eyes, he related to us that the night before, Tang Tang had wandered into the factory beside theirs. After some time, he retired to his guard room to watch the television. When he came out of his guard room some hours later, he found Tang Tang lying outside his door, in a pool of blood. Apparently, some foreign workers had savagely beaten Tang Tang, breaking his back and his legs. Poor Tang Tang must have been in such terrible pain. He not only endured the beating but he had dragged himself back to his factory, to look for the Uncle, for help.
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| Tang Tang getting a pat from Uncle. |
I told the Uncle he could have called us and we would have rushed down immediately, to take Tang Tang to the vet. Uncle said it was too late, that Tang Tang could not be saved. Tang Tang breathed his last, in Uncle’s arms. Uncle then buried Tang Tang at the back of his factory compound.
I wished we had been there last night. Perhaps Tang Tang would not have wandered into the neighbouring factory and faced certain death. I wish we had been there last night, perhaps we could have saved Tang Tang’s life by rushing him to the vet. We could have gone around the vicinity offering a reward for whoever who knew of Tang Tang’s abuser, murderer . .. but alas, it was too late. Tang Tang lost his life for nothing. As if life was not hard enough living as a stray, he had to be inhumanely beaten to death.
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| Tang Tang, Uncle and Mookie in happier days. |
Tang Tang would have been about 7 or 8 years old and has lived with Mookie and Uncle for some years. He will be dearly missed by the only family he knew and us, his friends.
Rest In Peace, Tang Tang. We hope that whoever who had savagely beaten you to death would not ever repeat his act of cruelty. Such is the pain of an animal rescuer.
