Desperately Seeking Blackie

Blackie and Brownie are good friends. Were they siblings. We don't know. They don't look alike but in dog world who's the wiser. A litter of pups can bring much surprises. Whatever the reasons, they were still inseparable. If you see Blackie, you'd see Brownie and if you see Brownie, you can be sure Blackie is somewhere even if far away.

Since Brownie's rescue (now named Milo) - see our entry on October 15, because of the noose incident, Blackie was suddenly left all alone. It wasn't that we left her behind or didn't want to help, she just disappeared. She must have seen the people who tried to capture Milo and used the noose on him and became terrified and just ran off.

Before this, even with Milo, she was always wary. She didn't like men in black. Even with the regular feeder, she'd stand a distance but if on that day, he was in black, she'd run away and bark madly.

Blackie’s shots taken from a distance. Nobody has seen her up close.

Blackie was afraid of the crows and mynahs who always stole her food. Many times we'd see her stand the distance watching sadly while the birds ate her food. One time while she was eating, we saw a crow swopped by and cawed loudly as if to chase her away. Blackie scooted off. We stood up to intervene but stopped by an amazing sight - Milo had seen this and came running to chase the bird way. Then as Blackie came slowly back to her bowl, Milo sat himself next to the food watching while Blackie ate. He didn't want the food for himself but it was as if he knew he had to help protect his friend while she ate.

That was an inspiring sight. We were amazed. We had never seen this before. Animals are animals. Stray dogs are stray dogs. Their only thought is to survive, there is no time for sentimentality. But after witnessing this, we are humbled that even among these strays there is such a thing as compassion and care. Evident especially in the friendship of Milo and Blackie.

Therefore when the noose incident drove Blackie to be on the run, we were worried for her. Knowing how dependent she is on him. We drove around everyday, looking into every nook and cranny, looking for Blackie. A week later, we did spot her, running, panting with a strange brown dog behind her. We drove along her, called her and she stopped as if she recognized us. We poured food and water and she drank gingerly, ate only a little, watching fearfully around, as if afraid she'd be caught while eating. Her friend ate too. After a hasty meal, with a only a few gulps of food, Blackie ran off into the bushes, with her friend behind.

The same thing happened again a few days after that, whenever we do spot her, she is always running, either alone or followed another dog but it was not as if she was following them, rather she was running alone. She's never in the same spot for long, as if she knew it was dangerous to stop for a while and safer to be on the run. We feel so tired for her..

After a few weeks, we saw that she had hooked up with a pack of dogs, but never she doesn't really fit in. This pack are now taking refuge in a fenced up area and seem to know that this seems to be a safe place from foreign workers. Perhaps something terrible did happen outside this fence - we don't know. All we know is some of our strays are missing one by one. If we want to feed them, we have to call them and they'd come out from below the gate. We are pretty happy about this because they look like they are safe, for now. Except Blackie. She never comes. She is always right at the far end, watching. If we drive off and wait from a distance, we can see her walk slowly towards the food source but by the time she arrives, there is hardly any food left, as the other dogs or the birds would have eaten most of it. And when we try to go back and refill, she's runs away again, this time not coming back.

Lately she doesn't even seem to bother coming towards us. She doesn't seem to want to eat, although we know she must be very hungry as there is no source of food nor water around. Try as we have, calling and tempting her, she never comes. It seems she is either starving herself to death or is sick. Unfortunately, though she is safe in this place and no one can go near here, neither can we. It's a Catch-22 situation.

We think the only way she can be caught is through a professional dog catcher, but even he may have difficulty if there is no opportunity given. But this is what we may end up doing, just getting one to see the situation.. The service is not cheap but we simply cannot stand and watch her like this. Not anymore. She is young, healthy and Milo's best friend. She shouldn't have to spend the rest of her life running or starving, waiting to die.

Our dream for her is to catch, sterilized, vaccinate, treat her for heartworms and retire her in a place like ALL (if they have space) or Noah's Ark where she can run to her heart's content and not have to look behind her all the time, fighting for time, for breath, fighting for food.

Would you be able to help us make the dream come true for Blackie? Donate to our cause. This fund is for emergencies like this, but mostly for medicine / sterilisation / vet fees. As for food, we have been doing on our own from our own resources, but since these dogs here seem to be getting injured (while escaping from their catchers) and sick, our resources are getting tight.