Life of Skinny the unloved stray…

** Rescue a Stray today, I found out about this site started by a few animal lovers from the Klang Valley: Adopt a Homeless Animal Today. Check out new pals that you can potentially adopt 🙂 **

Once, there was a stray dog called Skinny. True to her name, she is very skinny. She was golden in colour with a black mouth. Quite a common species of pariah dogs, but some Chinese may say dogs like these are fierce and will look after the house well.

Well, Skinny was homeless- no one wanted her. She wondered around, knowing the chilly colds of night rains and hot merciless afternoon sun. She also knew hunger almost all her life. Her body was almost always soaked in the rain, and always itch due to fleas. When she stratch too much, it bled and sometimes led to infections. But nobody cared, she had no owners and no home. She learned to be very careful with humans since young- she used to be quite trusting and will go near humans when she was a pup, wagging her tail. But after getting a few beatings and having bricks and other heavy stuff thrown at her, she instrictively became fearful of humans.

She lived around a residential area. Normally she will look for food around dustbins, and she has even identified some houses where the owners just tie their rubbish without using a bin. Those made searching for food much easier. But it is not easy… other house dogs always barked when they saw her and she sometimes get beaten or stoned by residents for tearing out their rubbish. She was really afraid of humans.

Anyway, when she was older, she got pregnant and gave birth to a few puppies. She found shelter at an old unused cement pipe located next to a busy road. The cries of her puppies attracted some attention. There was a few kind people who came over and put food for her because they felt so sorry that her weak skinny body that had to feed about 6 hungry pups. You would always hear yelping of puppies as you pass the old pipe near roadside and a big drain. However day by day, the cries grew lesser and lesser. Some must have came over to take away the pups. Even when the puppies were gone, she still went back to the old pipe. If you looked at her closely, you will see sorrow in her eyes. What happens to the pups, she’ll never known. Hopefully, they have a warm home with enough food, something that she had never known in her wretched stray life.

Months passed and everyday was a matter survival. Skinny had some other friends as well- they are unwanted strays like her. A few times, some dog shooters came and shot some of her friends. She was lucky to have escaped.

Soon, age caught up. She got weaker and often sicker. If you have seen Skinny, all you would see is a pack of bones wrapped with blistered skin and scars. It was harder to look for food. Weak from hunger, again she again gave birth to a couple of pups. One of the female pups, looked very much like her.

One day, Skinny was trying to cross the busy road- it was the road where she gave birth to her first set of pups. She managed to dashed safely towards the road divider and was just stepping down to cross over to other side of the road…. when….

A car came…. so fast that she did not see it coming… it hit her straight on the head. The driver did not stop, he just went ahead… “after all,” thought the driver, “it is just a worthless stray. The council workers will take care of it”. And after that, the driver never gave it another thought.

Skinny died almost instantly. It was a hot Saturday afternoon, so the council workers were off. She lay lifeless on the side of the road till Monday before a worker collected her carcass and throw it into the dumpster. Cars, motorbikes, people, zoom by….but… who cares? No one.

When Skinny was alive, I used to see her while I was walking to and back from work. I saw her when she gave birth to her pups and hid at the old unused pipe. Sometimes, I would even take back some leftovers food that my friends do not want and gave it to Skinny or her friends. After a while I guess she sort of recognized me- she used to look at me with gratitude when I put food near her.

I saw Skinny’s lifeless body lying by the road divider. I had hoped it was not her…

Then this morning while I was walking to work, I thought I saw Skinny. She was alone by the road divider and as I was passing, she drew away, afraid. I looked closer and saw that it was not Skinny. It was a much younger pup that looked like her. I recognized the pup- it was one of Skinny’s offsprings. I remember it was the friendest stray puppy ever. It used to follow people around with its wagging tail. Pups, even though they are stray, are very innocent and naive at first until they get abused or beaten.

It has grown slightly bigger from the pup size a few months back. And it no longer carried that innoncence and happiness of a stray pup that known warmth and protection. She is a female pup, which explains why no one took her back home as most would prefer male pups. She will have to face the cruel, harsh world alone, just like her mom once did…..

This is a real story. Skinny had lived near my residential area. When I saw the fear in Skinny’s offspring’s eyes this morning on my way to work, I was determined to write the story of Skinny’s life.

Why am I writing this? My message is simple: please do not be cruel to animals because like us humans, they have feelings such as happiness, joy, sadness, fear or pain. Please do not beat them up when they tear up your garbage or they walk near you. From what I see, strays do not attack human unless provoked or they felt they are in danger or if you happen to meddle with their food or go near their offsprings. Sometimes as humans, we can made choices that lead to whatever outcomes in our lives. But for them, the moment they are born, they cannot choose not to be a stray.