We know it is out there but it does not have a face so it is easy to look the other way and feel it is not our problem. I can now put a face on the problem along with mine, I will never be the same.
The face of poverty for humans and animals. I walked the street of this village and was brought to tears. The people are in constant struggle to survive and the animals they love and care so deeply for are what now haunts my dreams. Many are loved but can not be cared for. The ones that are loved have off springs that are now the street animals, making their own off springs in this hideous situation. This is a guaranteed life of misery and suffering till there untimely death of disease, starvation or plain human ignorance and cruelty.
I can not speak for the human poverty I have no words on how a country has no help for them. I am overwhelm with the animals. The picture should be enough to explain the problem. But people everywhere love their animals no matter what. The animals that are not theirs are of no consequence as it is everywhere in the world we love what is ours, we live in our own little box no matter how horrific it is. It is all some know and with the love of their pets and family they exist. One of my bitter sweet moments was when the lady did agree to taking her very ill dog, in the right side of this picture sitting on a bag of sorts, to see the vet. The first picture is of this dog and it has a disease called TVT
Canine transmissible venereal tumor it is very contagious to the other dog living in the animal population, when other dogs come in contact with body fluids of the infected dog. Often contracted through copulation and licking. Metastasis is most commonly to regional lymph nodes, but can also be seen in the skin, brain, eyes, liver, spleen, testicles, and muscle. This is a form of cancer and can be treated with chemo and or radiation. Both are not accessible to the poor. So this disease goes unchecked and as the unaltered dogs keep reproducing they not only make more puppies they spread this cancer, the out come is a horrible death for the dogs. One unaltered dogs can have two litters a year with any where from 4 to 10 puppies in each litter and those off spring go on to do the same, as there is nothing to stop the population explosions. It does not take a calculator to do the math, more than half of these dogs have illnesses and live in horrific conditions, they will perish soon; but not with out a lot of suffering. The other half keep making more puppies that will suffer for who knows how long before they perish. The lucky puppies are born and dropped off at a spay and neuter campaign to be helped as most of the villagers do care. But in fact they will be euthanized as no one wants them. The unlucky ones will suffer till they die.
As we arrived back from a little lunch the bags of puppies where left for us, 18 puppies in total. They were the wonderful little bundles of love that we all just gush over but the sadness is they will all be put down as no one want them. I can not look at puppies the same way again. My heart is broken and feel more driven than before. As the ones that we did not get were in every nook and cranny. I never got more than a city block before I had to quit looking. The little cries of puppies coming from everywhere is calling to the part of me that loves them and want to hold them and cuddle them. Then the reality of what will happen to all of these little babies then caught me totally of guard and my stomach began to turn. I had to stop looking for them and holding them. I had to walk away. Now I live with this, to walk away from suffering. I pray you all never know this feeling.
I came home with two dogs as that is all I can bring back. To know what I
can do is a drop in the ocean. But everything in this world started
with a drop in the ocean and then more drops and till there was a buck
full. Soon the clouds open and the change will begin. Not everyone can jump a plane and fly to a struggling
county, frankly I don't think they want us to. But to get involved in a
world wide problem is something we all can do. I did not know what I was
doing, I just knew I had to do something no matter how small. I was very miss guided
in the beginning. I now have direction and focus. And will push on
and I pray that I can reach others who will get involved. We all have
something that touches us and makes us want to help, the causes in this
would are infinite but for those of you that share my passion I hope you
will get involved. I welcome any conversation on this problem and
please feel free to contact me. crested@sbcglobal.net. To do nothing is the biggest part of the problem.
Spay and neuter campaigns can put a dent in the cycle of over population. It is a start, there are vets there that are willing to help but the funds to keep these campaigns up and educating the people is a huge beginning to this problem. Here we pay upwards to 300.00 for a spay or neuter depending on where we live. There they can be performed for as little as 15.00 per pet. In one campaign one vet and two students perform 115 surgeries. This will put a big dent in the population of pets in this village. It is not enough but for those who love there pets it was more than a blessing.
As the village people wrapped up, boxed up there beloved pets and headed to there homes, I was left with a sense hope that a solution to this problem can be found and implemented.
