17 March 2012

Other than taking leave from work, we also took leave from our weekly stray feeding duty when we went for vacation. Our fellow stray feeders were happy to have us back on our feet and hands last Saturday.

It's a coincidence that we got to know the two stray feeders from two different feeding areas (one from SOSD, one independent) because of injured and sick dogs.

We used to do casual stray feeding. Whenever we have time on Saturday, we would buy food during our normal grocery shopping time, cook and go feed late at night. We fed at sight. Because at that time we didn't know where exactly the strays are hiding. We just knew that there are strays in that 'famous' area frequently mentioned among the animal welfare groups on Facebook.

You should see how happy we were when we spotted one dog or one pack of strays. We would stop immediately and rush out to offer food. Our action must be quite comical. Often, the dogs are scared by our action.

One night, we saw a dog with massive ear wound that caused his ear to dangle. After feeding him big portions of food, we took pictures of him and I asked MA, a volunteer whom I know from Animal Lovers League, who are the feeders in that area. She immediately referred me to the ladies at SOSD. From there, I got to know that they have been trying to catch the dog, named Kobe, to send to the vet. The feeder has been giving him antibiotics as well. Within one day, LL the feeder got in touch with me and the next thing I knew, we were shadowing her on her feeding rounds!

There are so many dogs in that area, we have to feed at least 90 bags of food. In order to remember the exact spots to leave each bag of food, I have to mark them down on a map. We also needed two rounds of shadowing to familiarize ourselves with the routine. I applaud LL for being able to do that everyday! She cooks everyday for the dogs. We just need to collect the bags from her and relieve her from the feeding part on Saturday.

Another area that we feed is where we spotted strays ourselves but later got to know the feeder because of brown dog. For this area, I do the cooking and food preparation for Saturday. It'll take me two rounds of mixing to complete the meal because I don't have industrial-sized utensils.

Sometimes when there are discounted kuning fish (usually from Cold Storage), I will give the strays a treat. Of course, Cookie and Creme have their treats too.

The whole experience of turning from a casual feeder to a regular feeder has been most enriching. It's nice to know that there are a animal lovers out there who care for the strays wholeheartedly, day in day out. Many of these dogs are scared of people and timid. It'll be a mammoth task trying to catch them for sterilization.

But there is just one friendly dog who always yells in joy and runs towards us (while licking her mouth in anticipation) when she sees us coming with her meal. That does it for me. 
 

Fyi: Numerous attempts to catch Kobe failed. Kobe's ear healed by itself after a course of antibiotics which LL put in his food.
More fyi: That friendly dog has been spayed.