You’re AXED

I got a cruelty case today that made me question my belief in humanity. It made me question my constitution as someone who witnesses cruelty to animals every single day.

It made me want to ask all humans these basic questions;

If someone came at you with an axe, what would you do?

If someone did this to your face? What would you do?

If you were a dog, would you love humans still?

Would you respond kindly to their touch?

…and give kisses to the human cleaning your wounds?

What will it take for us humans to be more like animals?

To love completely?

To trust completely?

Will we always remain like this guy?

Or will we become….their voice?

So that the bad guy doesn’t win…

Dogs are Cowards.

“What is your first name?” The motel owner pointed to my name tag while playing with her dark yellow gold ear-ring.

“Inder. How long have the dogs been in the room, madam?” I jotted the details on my note-pad.

“I recognised your Kada. You’re a sikh.” She pointed at my iron bangle representing one of the 5 symbols of my religion.

I raised my eyebrows.

“5 days- he abandoned them 5 days ago.”

“Have you given them any water? Food?” I took down information of the renter.

“No sir, I’ve always been very scared of dogs. They bite.”

I thought to myself- so do most of us humans. They bite when they are scared or hurt. We bite because we like to play games.

“Our workers are very scared to even open the door.” She did the indian nod.

Gosh. Not a drop of water for 5 days and no food. I slid the card in the slot and entered the room. The brindle pitiful charged at me and then stopped.

Dogs are cowards.

Yes. Dogs are the biggest cowards in the world. They will achieve their goal using the minimum required force. They fake you out with their aggression and test its effect and then they wait. If you don’t flinch- they back off.

Always.

It never fails.

He recedes back on the bed where he has shredded newspapers, peed and pooped and made a royal mess. But its we, the humans who messed up their lives.

I sit on the chair and turn on the TV.

The dog stops barking. Thats when I see the other black dog cowering under a sink. He’s protecting her. He comes toward me, unsure but calm now.

The motel owner and his wife are staring wide-eyed through the window of the room.

I put some water in front of the dog. His tail starts wagging but he is unsure of drinking. I put water in front of the dog under the sink and she drinks right away. I caress her face. The brindle male starts drinking too.

In less than 5 minutes, I’m their new best friend. They are licking my face.

In the next ten minutes they are on my truck and when I take his picture he makes this absolutely angelic face which says. I didn’t do anything back there. It wasn’t me.

They are now at the shelter- in the same kennel. That’s the least I could do for them- to ensure they don’t feel even more abandoned; separated from each other.

So starts another vigil to find them a home- and this time hopefully together. The dogs don’t stop coming. The cruelty and abandonment and callousness never ceases to hurt my heart.

We humans are cowards too.

I was a coward for the longest time. Shutting my eyes to the plight of these animals.

I’m just trying my best to face up to the cruelty this world has inflicted on these animals now.

Just trying to NOT be a coward anymore.

Had a ball once- NOT HAVING A BALL NOW.

“I love a tennis ball- There; I said it.”

The soft fluorescent fuzz on the ball helps me grip it as I snap in in the air. The dirt and grime from weeks and the nastiest smells are all trapped within the short wiry hair on the surface.

A joy- A total–

“–What the heck? I just got trapped inside these tennis courts. Someone locked the gate and now I can’t get out. The other dogs always told me that my love for the tennis ball will get me in trouble one day. Uggggghhhh.”

The Animal Control Officer (ACO) in the blue uniform shows up and put me on the back of his truck. He pets my head and promises that I will be OK at the dog-pound. There’s my other fault- I am gullible. The animal control officer makes a verbal contract with me that I will be better off inside than as a stray.

I believe him. I always believe everybody- what can I say. I’m an animal.

Humans invented time. From that time they allocated some time for me. 72 Hours is what I was given. I have no idea how much time that it and how many times will the sun come out before my time runs out.

All I know is that I am inside a kennel, I don’t see the sun come out. All I see is the inside of a dark kennel and hear other dogs barking, begging to be let go all day. Then they give up when the humans leave.

Then one day when they lifted the partition between my kennel and the next one as they do while the humans clean, I met Tiki Tiki.

She told me she was abandoned and had a million fleas on her. The same ACO had picked her up and promised her a good life in a real home. She was scared of everything. She’d never known affection so I shared my love with her. I told her stories about humans who care, about tennis balls those bounce, about families who take their dogs on vacations. I consoled her till she trusted me.

Then one day they lifted the partition and there was another dog there.

Tiki was gone. My best friend.

My ONLY friend.

The ACO was true to his word. He found Tiki a home- but I was left alone- all by myself.

Now he visits me everyday and takes me for a walk- he promises me while petting my head that one day I will find a real home too. He calls me Ol’ blue eyes and has named me ‘Sinatra’.

As time goes on, I see other dogs come and go. I stay here and wait- I hold my end of the bargain I made with the ACO and be patient and a good boy.

He tells me he will post me on Facebook and somebody would wan’t me.

But I wait.

And I wait.

I’m holding my end of the contract I made with the ACO; will he hold his end up?

And maybe I can have a BALL OF A TIME too.

Bad to the Bone?

Neglect?- Of property? Of Animal?

Abandonment?

Was this puppy in a dangerous situation?

That is a skull and pelvic bone of another dog

A Puppy?

-It looks fat because its belly is bloated with round-worms.

Thirsty?

Hungry?

Brought to shelter?

Did it get its first bath?

Did it get Spayed?

Is it ready for the BIG Adoption event?

Will it find a loving home?

Compassion fatigue??- NOT YET.

SomeBunny Loves You

Four baby bunnies were learning about life. The warm sun, the fresh smell of the bugs and earth and the clear crisp air. Their mama had asked them to stay in their nest in a citizens yard.

But since when do kids listen to their mama? When the mama was away the baby bunnies stepped out of their nest; hopping away within a few feet of the nest, exploring , smelling, nibbling on the grass.

Along came a man with a big machine with a big blade, slicing the grass and spitting out the shards from the other end. A man in shorts pushed the lawn-mover from one corner of the yard to the other.

……….Then he saw the bunnies.

*********************

The next day I bent down by the empty nest squinting at the glob of red fur trying to make sense of what I was looking at. As I stepped back I saw more bits of the shredded baby. I removed my sunglasses and raised my eyebrows at the burly man.

“I got that sucker good, din’ I?” He high fived his next door neighbor. They guffawed and sipped their beer.

I couldn’t believe how many pieces he had shredded the baby rabbit into. Why, goddamnit why?

“These suckers are everywhere. I put out this other one in the empty nest so mama would come and get him- but she dern-near ran for her bloody life.” He toed another one by the fence.

This one had his body intact but his mouth lay open, parched. His lips yearning for that one drop of water that never came in the 100 degree Texas weather. He used a baby rabbit to bait it’s mama. My eyes well up with tears. A human beings ability to be cruel never ceases to amaze me.

So I gave him a few tickets for cruelty and filed a case against him. This case I am sure to lose in the court of law. He laughed as he signed the tickets (This is not an admission of guilt, sir… It’s just an acknowledgement… blah blah blah).

Did these ten day old bunnies have a life worth saving? Did they have a voice? In those tickets that are sure to be thrown out- they will have a voice. It might never be heard but it is worth listening to.

In their ten days in this world- their mama loved them. In becoming their voice I promise to love them.

SomeBunny loves them.

Inconvenience in WORK; PROGRESS is regretted.

Another excuse for encroaching and taking what was rightfully not ours.

I was involved in two different cases today.

1) A German Shepherd was reported running loose on a freeway. That to me is DISASTER MODE, WAR-FOOTING, CODE-RED.

As I sped down the motorway with the lights of my truck blaring, my heart skipped a beat at every black object I saw; a discarded trash bag, separated treads from tires, litter.

A part of me didn’t want to see this dog and a part of me figured that catching him is the best chance it has.

My heart is bi-polar by now.

Instead, I found this little Brown dog on the freeway; quashed beyond recognition. Once it got to the freeway, its little legs had no chance in front of the giant 16 wheelers delivering the fruits of development across the country.

A horrible, painful and merciless end to a life once cherished.

2) A citizen called about an Alligator in a pond by a cul-de-sac. Upon arrival I saw the citizens yard almost extending into a swamp. The builders of the subdivision had squeezed every last inch of habitable land from the swamp-animals.

He showed me two gators in the pond and said they were out on the banks earlier.

“Sure, sir. They were sun-bathing. That’s what cold-blooded mammals do.” I laid my palm out flat.

“But they can get my kids.” He puffed out his chest.

Did you not think of that when you bought the house, Einstien? “It’s their natural habitat, sir.” I waved to the swamp.

“Can’t you just get them and relocate them from here?” He tried to read my name off my badge.

“From the water? You want me to go in the–”

“—Can’t you.”

Yes if I were Tarzan, MAYBE.

But how are these two cases related, you might ask.

So as I drive back in the evening this is what I saw; A fresh coat of tar on the freeway. Before I could help it I had stopped the truck by the same small dog I’d seen this morning.

The tar-machine had sprayed tar over its battered body. A worked must’ve noticed it on the second or third coat and flung it against the divider on the freeway. Even the dead carcass of a small dog was tormented.

The development of a nation is determined by the quality of its roads and the number of animals that are buried in the concrete slabs and the tar.

CHIRIYAN TE MEIN BAAZ TADAUN

The one personality that has affected me more than any other in this world.

My guru.

Sacche Patshah Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji.

As I child I was drawn by his eyes, his magnetic personality his stories of sacrifice and bravery; the warrior saint with a falcon on his arm.

But there was a deeper connection.

Then I learnt more about him. When the rest of the country was mired in un-touchability and segregation he decreed that everyone shall sit and eat at the same level. No rich and no poor. Equality for all.

In war he reluctantly sent his men to their death, but not before he sacrificed his own sons first.

Fairness.

And love for his beloved horse and his falcon.

That’s where I might have learnt to love animals- who knows how the mind of a child absorbs things.

Today I got a call for an injured falcon.

So I went to the site where a hawk had paralyzed legs. Unable to fly it flapped its wings and struggled on the road. Ultimately giving up.

As I draped a blanket over the falcon and picked it up I felt a connection deeper than man and animal. It had something to do with being a Sikh.

I felt responsible towards the Falcon ; like I was being tasked by the guru to save it.

After hurrying back to the shelter, I used a syringe to put dextrose solution in its mouth. Sometimes birds who haven’t eaten for a while are running low on blood sugar seem like they are close to dying. However a few drops of dextrose act like a miracle. I’ve seen them fly away within minutes of getting the dextrose.

Not this one.

I searched under its wings ignoring the unusual slimy excreta (which should never be fluidic as birds do not urinate) dripping on my uniform, I found BB pellets embedded in its legs.

The capability of humans to be cruel never stops amazing me.

So I called a bird rescue group and they came out and took the Falcon to give it the best chance at rehabilitation.

I kept on thinking about why the Guru called us Sikhs, the eternal learners. He taught us that an elephant and an ant is the same in the eyes of god.

But we; his Sikhs hold one bird in reverence (the Falcon) and willingly kill and eat some other birds like chicken and turkeys and emu’s.

Did the Guru over-estimate us? Are we the same Sikh’s he was so proud of that he said

Sawa Lakh te ek laraun,

He asked us to fight evil, but for these animals- we became EVIL IN CHIEF.

You sir, are under a Contract !!

We made a contract with animals-

Sure, there was no fine print. Surely, nobody from their team had the ability to read it or sign it or veto it. They just had to lower their defenses and give in.

We tricked them

— But even one-sided contracts are contracts.

“We will domesticate you,” it read. “We will trade you for profit like a commodity. We will make all possible uses of you and we will even expect you to love us unconditionally. In return we will give you the food and shelter as long at it is convenient to us…”

The stupid animals didn’t even hear us beyond the phrase “Unconditional Love.”

They were sold.

They were duped.

Somewhere down the line, we forgot our promise because we humans have the one basic thing these animals lack- GREED.

They are still stuck on the phrase. “Unconditional Love.”

Every festival we have be it Easter, Thanksgiving, Bakr-Eid, Gadhimai, Christmas; we find an excuse to feast on their flesh.

Sometimes in the name of religion.

Sometimes in the name of dating, family get-togethers, feasts, partying with the boys/girls, graduations, weddings, birthdays- we celebrate all our events by murdering them.

Such is our GREED.

Sometimes in the name of entertainment- we maim and mutilate them. We profit off their pain and suffering.

And if killing them isn’t enough, we scare them with our celebrations. At Holi we colour them with chemicals on their skin. On Diwali and independence day fireworks spoof and scare them.

Every 4^th of July the shelter gets the MAXIMUM number of dogs and cats those have been abandoned or run away scared. The Euthanasia rates of cute dogs and cats triples on the week following July 4^th.

We read this and say- Ohhhhh that’s horrible. But the following year, the following festival- even our need to see fireworks super-cedes the life of a dog.

Our independence celebrations mean their independence from their life.

When are we going to honour our end of the social contract we made with the animals?

When will we be honest and fair and have equal rights – The very foundations of this nation and humanity?

A Million in One

Every creature fights for survival.

This dog gave up to ticks. Millions of them. In clusters all over her. Her soft skin invaded by clusters of them. The armpits, the ears, the toes, the neck. In my eight years in rescue and animal cruelty investigations, I have never seen dog with so many ticks.

Someone tied her amongst tall grass and left her there.

She must’ve tried to get away.

The missing fur tells us that at some point she chose to bite them off.

Then she tried to break her leash.

Then she gave up.

To die a horrible death.

This dog was anemic beyond belief. Her gums were bleached. She wouldn’t have made it through the day with those ticks sucking away at her emaciated body.

So I sat down on my knees and started picking them off her body. 2 people working for 30 minutes or so got maybe 25% of them off her. Nothing grosses me out more than clusters of ticks but this dog needed relief.

We doused her with chemicals and took her to the Vet -assuming she will need a transfusion. The good Vet told us that as long as she eats- she will be fine. So I opened some wet food for her and even before the dish hit the floor she had scarfed down almost all of it.

Then I wrote “Very Gentle” with a sharpie across her disposition paperwork. That means she will have 3 days. The compassionate Vet smiled at me for the work done to save her and marked her for spay surgery. That would mean she won’t die immediately. That she will have a shot at life.

While I was putting her back in her cage she wagged her tail and for the first time in her empty eyes I saw a spark. A chance at life- hope.

As the ticks dropped off her continually- due to the medication I wondered if my touch today was the first loving touch this dog had ever known.

Her survival chances are up to her luck now. Maybe (post spay) in the weeks she has at the shelter a family would see through all the dried scabs of blood and see a priceless soul. Maybe she will finally get the love that we humans owe her. Maybe she’ll be able to give her love to someone.

She was one with a million ticks on her.

Today her survival chances are one in a million……

…But one is a number.

Will you be the one to make her your ONE and ONLY?

Take my last defense- but give me some love in turn.

What makes a good bait dog? What makes a horrible person?

A good bait dog takes a beating but doesn’t fight back.

A horrible person makes money from someone’s miseries.

A good bait dog cowers and is an easy target. Is used on rape stands for breeding and the puppies are taken away.

A horrible person doesn’t sleep well at night.

A bait dog is defenseless when their teeth are ground down by a grinder so they won’t fight back and injure the prize dog.

A horrible human is an addict- to money, to lust, to drugs, to his power trip.

A bait dog gets injured, gets abandoned, gets dumped by a freeway.

A horrible person goes to jail.

But a bait dog still loves- still forgives, still is happy to be alive.

Please help this dog and show him that all humans are not horrible. That this poor mama has love in her future and even with ground down teeth it can have a good life.

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Peedu's People : Educating People about the UNDERdogs

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