Onderstaande mail ontving van Ver. Bianca. Met hun toestemming plaats ik de mail op de blog. Zodat iedereen weet waar de vrijwilligers mee te maken krijgen als ze een hond willen helpen. Voor degenen die geen engels spreken: met google translate kun je de tekst vertalen
.Subject: August news: the obstacles we have to go through to save a wounded dog.....
Dear Bianca friends and supporters,
please read about what happened to us Saturday a week ago and please circulate this email so people could understand what obstacles we have to go through to save homeless and wounded animals - not only indifference but pure hostility.
Below you will see pitcures of the dog we rescued. They are sad but look at them in this spirit that we saved his life, he is already doing better and then you can see the movies and see that he is already playful and happy.
We have written about what happened in our blog but there were many facts we had to omit, in a small locality it is easy to earn enemies so noone is going to complain publicly about how unhelpful the police was. However, I am writing this email as a private person and I have a right to say the whole and appalling truth.
On Saturday 15th of August in the evening we were doing a campaign near the beach of Sesimbra - we had kittens for adoption and we were distributing leaflets about the work of the Association. And a wounded dog appeared....
We had already been contacted by some people since August, 12 about a wounded dog being seen in Sesimbra but somehow noone managed to catch him. We knew he was there, somewhere there, but we don't have a satelite over Sesimbra and surroundings to spot him on the particular moment so we asked whoever called about him to catch him and bring him. Those people were replying that he was not allowing himself to be caught which I doubt very much - on that Saturday night he went straight into my arms and stayed there. People don't want to do anything, they call the association and they think they have done their part but catching the dog and actually taking it to the vet it is too much.
In the evening of the campaign this dog appeared and because of the nature of the wounds we knew it was that one.
He was very hungry, he approached Silvia and me probably because of the smell of cat food so we fed him and then we noticed the wounds. On the side, terrible, two parallel big cuts, deep and infected. We put a collar on him, attached the leash and called the vet. It was Saturday evening, around 22.30 and the clinic was closed but the vet Joana agreed to go quickly to the clinic and wait for us.
Then, from the other side of the street a man came, with a glass of beer in his hand, shouting: "Thieves! You are stealing a dog!" It was not the owner of the dog, it was just a violent man who hated animals and maybe drank too much and was looking for a fight. He said that the animal had an owner like all the animals on the streets of Sesimbra (that's what he thinks) but upon insistance he admitted he did not know the owner. Still it did not matter for him, we were thieves and we were not supposed to take ANY dogs from the street. Even the wounded ones. Explanations did not help - showing the wounds, explaining that we know he has been walking like this for 4 days, explaining that the vet was waiting, that if the animal had an owner he could find him in the vet after the treatment, that the shouting man could accompany us to the vet to see we were telling the truth......
The guy was simply looking for a fight. He was becoming more violent and offensive, was shouting, threatening to harm whoever would take the dog away. I had the dog in my arms but whenever I made a step with him he was jumping to me and threatening. He was twice as big as me so I was not very brave but I had no intention of letting the dog go. At this point the guys that were doing the campaign with us realised what was happening and came to rescue me. As I said the guy was obviously looking for a fight but it must not have been the first time because he was very careful not to hit first. He was provoking, shouting, threatening, offending, approaching someone's face at 5 cms but not hitting. I deserved a special lesson, I was told to learn to speak Portuguese correctly and go back to my country as I had nothing to do in his. You bet I would, if I could take all street dogs with me.
A crowd of over 100 people gathered around but only 3 people intervened. Others were happy as spectators. Cheap performance.
We called the police. They came but hey, what do you think, you think a police would defend a dog? It is only a dog after all. Instead of getting to the bottom of the situation the police decided to review our authorisation. We had an authorisation from the municipality to do the campaign. Anyway, it was not good for them. It said Saturday evening near hotel SANA, but according to the police it was not specific enough - they wanted hours and particular place (I ask myself if they wanted GPS coordiantes as we were in front of the hotel and on Saturday evening so I think we were within the limits of the authorisation). Anyway, they wanted to make it sound as if it was all our fault so we had to terminate the campaign. Normally we would oppose, but the dog was more important. So I said: fine, we finish the campaign but what about the dog? And the policeman told me: you cannot take a dog that does not belong to you from the street, you have to call the municipal services (it was Saturday night, the relevant services start working on Monday, the dog would be dead by then). It was complete bollocks, anyone can take a dog from the street to take him to the vet if the dog is wounded but notice the attitude of the police! This guy probbaly grew up in this village, his family probably has dogs like people have them - they see them once a week as they are on the streets all the time, they don't feed them, they don't vaccinate them and they give them an occasional kick when they see them.
When I was talking to the policeman, a tight crowd gathered around us, so much that it was difficult to breathe but noone said anything - they were just all curious but noone cared if the dog was going to die or live.
The policemen would have completely ignored our claims about the violent guy who had started the whole thing if it was not for the fact that one of our guys involved in the campaing was an army officer and he decided that he was not going to let himself be called a thief on the street so he needed to make a complaint and he needed to have the other guy's data. It is only then when the police agreed to take his data, they showed some respect for an army officer of a grade higher than they had, until then none of us had deserved any respect - we were just trouble makers.
It is in all this confusion, policemen taking data of the guy, our guys packing the campaign stuff that I managed to take off with the dog. I have to admit that one policeman was symphatetic, he actually told me on the side to go quickly to the vet and to carry the dog because it was too far for him too walk.
The vet was not yet there, I sat in front of the vet with my husband and we waited. The dog climbed on my lap and lied comfortable there. He knew he could trust me.
The vet arrived. She had a look at the wound and was very touched. She admitted that the wound was very ugly, infected, already a few days old and it two-three more days the dog would be dead. The wound was cleaned although it could not be sawn, the bandage was put and the dog stayed in the vet.
This was around 10 days ago. The dog, we called him Kalif, is still at the vet and has made certain progres. The wound is slowing recovering. It was rotten inside, they needed to revive the tissue and slowly it is reviving. They manage to partly close it already. In a month or two he will be like new. You can see the movies I made recently at the vet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scZKvRkOErE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPkKlYmh3wQ
You can see that he is happy, regardless the wound. He probably has never had as much affection as he is getting now from the vet Joana. He is just so happy. It is a young dog, he is around one year old, maybe less. His teeth are all white yet.
So now to the point - when he has recovered, he needs a home. And I would love to get him a home outside of Portugal, he has suffered enough and here cruelty to animals is a daily thing. Please forward this email and help me find a good home for Kalif.
By the way, after leaving him in the vet we went back to the police to present a complaint against the violent men from earlier that evening. The police had his data after all. We entered the police station at 23.30 and we left at 4.30. There were no other "clients" there and nothing particular was happening that evening. They just hoped we would get tired and go. But we didn't.
See our webpage to learn about our work of saving animals:
http://www.bianca.pt/
and the blog:
http://bianca-pet-rescue-adoption.blogspot.com/
but believe me, the reality is much more exasperating that it may seem from the website.
And please help me find a home for Kalif and sponsors for his vet treatment
Yours
Gosia
