One evening, we received a call from a stray feeder about two black puppies that she found at a forested area. She told us that the puppies were covered with worms, and that they were currently at her house. Even after a long day of animal-related activities, we decided to drop by to see what we could do. Nothing could prepare us mentally for what we were about to encounter.
The rescuer had separated the rescued pups in a room, away from her dogs in case they had any infectious diseases. Upon entering of the room, the frightened 2 month old puppies were hiding under the bed. When the rescuer pulled one of them out, what hit us was most disturbing and upsetting. At that point, I closed my eyes and willed myself not to throw up. I could see the other volunteers’ faces turn pale and choke with hurt and pity for the little pup. Till today, the image of it all is still fresh in my mind, and I feel pain physically and cringe even thinking about it.
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| A huge deep wound on the tiny pup |
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| Wound on the puppy's back |
The poor black puppy had a palm-sized hole on its back, revealing its flesh, and hundreds of tiny worms were wriggling in and out. The hole was so big and deep, I could not bring myself to imagine the degree of pain the tiny pup was experiencing. She was shivering terribly from agony, and salivating badly – an indication that her body was surging with extreme pain. Septicemia had set in.
The other puppy had a small wound and could be treated without going to the vet as it was emergency hours and the rates were expensive.
The other puppy had a small wound and could be treated without going to the vet as it was emergency hours and the rates were expensive.
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| Salivating badly |
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| Worms and insects crawling all over her face |
Worms and insects were crawling in and out of the pup through her big wound, as well as from her eyes, nose and mouth. I looked into her eyes and saw so much pain; I wanted to hug her and take it all away from her. She was suffering so much that she could not cry or whine. All she did was to stare into our eyes, pleading with us to help her. She was so small, so vulnerable; I felt sorry that she had to go through such extreme torture. She reminded us of baby Harper who was fortunate to be rescued before it was too late.
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| Imagine her pain and suffering |
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| Worms all over her face |
It was close to midnight when we rushed the little puppy to the vet. Worms and insects were crawling and falling out of the box that we had put her in. The car was full of tiny worms, it made our hair stand on end.
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| Worms were falling off her body |
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| Poor puppy |
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| Dear puppy, sorry that we could not save you |
Had she not been found, she would have died a slow death in the forested area, prolonging her pain and suffering.
Stray dogs live a very hard life. They endure lots of suffering, abuse and eventually dying, totally unnoticed and not missed at all. No one had even noticed their existence.
Sometimes we wonder if it’s a better fate to leave this world earlier and not suffer as a stray, or to live a long life and suffer as a stray . . . .
HOPE receives many calls and emails on a daily basis but limited by funds, volunteers and fosters, we can only do what we can, within our means. Dogs that have been saved by us are truly blessed. For those that whose path we did not cross, we can only hope that we will be able to do more one day for them.
Attend our upcoming event, Party with HOPE and support the work we do. A lot of planning and preparation goes into an event so we hope to make it a huge success but we can’t do it without your presence so hurry and buy your tickets to our inaugural hotel event. Come down and say Hi to our volunteers who slog away endlessly for the doggies!
