A Broken Hearted Melody

We currently have 4 regulars who keep together which makes it easier for us to feed. There are others, outside this pack and occasionally we feed when we can find them but none as familiar as these. Blackie (from our entry on October 21) was fortunate to hook up with this group, although she remains more of a loner in the pack.

The Rat Pack
Introducing Patches, because of his strange colouring. Patches looks like a Hound, is probably a cross and some throwback from a blood hound as he has long features. He is a big boned, tall, male and brindle coloured.

Patches has wonderful manners.
Taking a bow “How do you do?”

Patches is very lovable and affectionate. We suspect that he is an abandoned dog and owned by a family before as he likes nuzzling up to us, more interested in getting to know us than the rest of the pack. Always, the first to reach us, the leader of the pack and alpha male, he is upset each time we leave him.

As lessons learnt from stray feeding, we try not to get friendly with them to save their lives, so we zip in and out quickly to finish our feeding, trying not to have any contact with them so they won't be used to humans. But with Patches it is very hard. He tries to block us from leaving, doesn't want to go back to the fenced area where the pack find refuge now. The other day, we took a stick and shush them back after feeding as they were hanging around, wagging tails. The rest quickly ran back to the refuge, not Patches, he sat on his rump, looked straight at us and growled as if saying "I'll go back when I'm done and good."

Oftentimes, after feeding, he'd run after our car as if shouting "Take me with you, I'll be good.. I promise. Just wait up. Don't go. Spend time with me." It is always with a breaking heart we drive off even faster so he can't follow. We know what he wants. He wants to belong again - to a family. Just like the one who left him behind. The one who abandoned him. Poor Patches, singing his broken hearted melody, why oh why did they have to leave him? Patches is greatly disliked by passer-bys because he is big, look fierce and always try to approach strangers out of friendliness but mistaken by many as a harmful, fierce dog because of his size. Hopefully it is because of this and his strange colouring and growls, the workers will think he is diseased or too fierce and leave him alone. That is our hope, however if someone were to report, that will be another problem.

Beautiful Mama Brown, always so happy to see us.
If fate was kinder, she’d be so cherished by her family.

Mama Brown is an adolescent female pup. From a distance she looks an older dog but as you get nearer, you’d realise she is actually very young. She joined the pack recently. Where she came from, nobody knows. We just saw her one day with the pack. We think she is also an abandoned dog as she hasn't lost much of her weight since in the wild. That would mean she was abandoned only recently. She is such a lovely babe. As seen in the photo, she never fails to smile when we are around. She always greet us with a large grin and a waggy tail. Still young, she needs to be caught and sterilised soon or it will be too late. She doesn't appear to understand the dangers of her plight as she is a newcomer and probably has not seen the horrors of capture and death.

Young Junior. Will he ever get a chance to grow up? To realise the potential he was meant to be?

Blackie Junior (Junior for short) is only a few months old. He is a typical frisky puppy. He loves to play and find the game of hide and seek very interesting. When we try to chase him back to the fencing, he springs around thinking it is a game. If only it was. Though Junior is young his innocent little eyes must have witnessed horrifying sights because on a recent Saturday morning, he greeted the RAT team with a long loud lone howl as if he was trying to communicate with us. Something unusual or horrific must have happened the night before because he behaved very strangely that morning and refused to come from out of the fencing when he would usually frisk and play his usual game of tag with us.

Unfortunately for them and us, workers have seen our Rat Pack. They passed by one day when we were feeding and was heard to have remarked "There are dogs here, take note of this place". These dogs are just sitting ducks, easy targets and other than finding homes for them, there is nothing we can do. Can it be they had attempted something that night and Junior is trying to tell us that? As long as they stay in this area, they are safe for now. But for how long, we dare not imagine the dreaded inevitable. Every morning is a day of fear and hopefulness. Are they still there? Did we lose one last night.

Not only are the dogs living in fear, so too are we. We are on a roller coaster ride of emotions, daily fear that they are no longer there and what will happen tomorrow.

We anticipate the stray situation at Seletar to get worse. This area is undergoing development as commercial buildings replace houses. As residents move out, their dogs are left behind. Were Patches and Mama Brown the victims of this move? We don't know but we have spotted even breed dogs - two old Labradors, an English Cocker Spaniel amongst those left behind, They disappeared after a while, what happened to them we don't know but we do know they would be most vulnerable in the wild being domesticated all their lives. They were discarded like old furniture after they had outlived their youth and usefulness. Is there no retirement for dogs? Is there no humanity in man? Betrayed in the end and left to die in the wild. Cruel as it may sound, it would have been kinder had they been put down.

On The Other Side - Another Family

And as if this area doesn't have enough problems, our neighbour co-feeder sounded an alarm yesterday that she has just spotted a mummy dog with 5 pups at another area, further where we don't cover. Afraid that this may be near some construction site and worried of dog capture for food we went over to investigate. It is indeed a heartbreakingly lonely sight, when it should be a joyous occasion in normal circumstances - Black mummy dog with her pups. There are only 3 left from the original 5 pups. Four weeks old, two black and one patch. The mother dog looked very worried when we approached, as if she was afraid we would take away her babies. In the photos below you can see the apprehension in her eyes. She looks so sad and concerned for the welfare of her pups, and who can blame her. She knows how the cruel the world is. She is so thin and desperately thirsty - drank all the water we brought without stopping. They are very hungry and kept eating and eating. In fact the puppies were seen crunching away on cement stones when we saw them. We will not move them. There is no safer place. As long a they remain where they are and keep hidden, we hope we can buy time. We will continue to visit and feed them.

Mommy dearest, I love you.

And as we turned to go, one little black pup walked towards us, sat down, looked up at us and lifted his tiny paw as if he wanted to shake hands – offering his thanks and appreciation. Without accepting his paw, tears in our eyes, and a sigh, we turned to go. It is easier this way. No contact, remember. For their sake, to save their lives as well as ours, to save our sanity. The emotional roller coaster is tormenting.

With this barbaric dog cannibalism going around, the focus of stray feeders have shifted. Now our priority is no longer just feeding the hungry. Rather it has become a race against time.

Who gets to the dogs first ....... The Good, the Bad or the Evil