On Sunday, we saw a mother dog and her two pups in the Savannah. I am almost sure they were dumped there by the owner, as so many other dogs have been in the past. And left to die. There are always dogs in the Savannah - some with collars, some with puppies. You sometimes see the homeless people who also live in the Savannah with a dog in tow, you sometimes hear about a dog that was adopted by an admirer, but most of them just disappear. I've seen skeletons, and smelled rotting carcasses that are probably those of dogs who hid themselves away to die in peace. Though how such a death could be peaceful if beyond my imagination.
It is hard for dog catchers to net one of the Savannah dogs because they have the whole Savannah to bolt into when they see them coming. Which is quite sensible of the dogs because strays taken to the pound are killed - I understand they are electrocuted, but I don't know for sure how it is done. I've seen the dog catcher too - she is about 5 feet and is as wide as she is tall, so she does not present much of a challenge for a dog intent on escaping from her.
But as I say, we saw a mother dog and her two pups on Sunday. They were trotting eastwards, along the north side of the Savannah, the mother stopping to sniff the ground every two or three feet - probably hoping to find something edible. The puppies, as puppies do, were gambolling along, probably oblivious to the fact that their distended tummies meant they had worms, not that they were well fed. The mother was small, whitish-blond with long fluffy ears, and she wore a collar. One of the puppies was white, the other was either black or dark brown. Everyone was thin.
When I got home I sent a message to the TSPCA and to AWN (Animal Welfare Network) asking them to pick the dogs up. On Monday I heard back from TSPCA, asking for the location of the dogs. By that time, I had gone back to the Savannah, but had not seen the dogs. Neither did I see them on Tuesday or Wednesday, so I thought somebody had gotten them, or that they had gone somewhere else.
This morning, I took another route with Rescue while walking in the Savannah. I get bored going the same way every time, so I often change our direction when I am walking either of the dogs. This route took me directly across the Savannah, and I was beginning to regret my decision because there are few sheltering trees in that part of the Savannah and the sun was killing me, when I saw something white moving in the distance. I am very alert to the presence of dogs in the Savannah because the ones in packs would sometimes attack other dogs (mine). It was too far away for me to see, but as I got closer, I realized that it was Mummy Dog - and she was alone.
She was heading towards me, but at an angle which would allow her to pass me at a safe distance. When she got parallel to me, she stopped and looked at me, but I had Rescue so she sensibly did not approach us. I was so sad to see her alone, as I was then sure her babies had died of starvation or had been killed by another dog.
But then, in the distance, I could see two little bodies tumbling together on the ground. It was her puppies. I don't understand why she was running away from them, but she was moving like someone with an important appointment that she did not want to be late for. When I got closer, and they saw me, they started to run towards me - but stopped very suddenly when Rescue began to take a most unhealthy interest in them. So, with Rescue straining at the leash, I had to leave them.
But I went home, dropped Rescue off, collected a leash, some milk and dog food and bits of cheese and went back down to the Savannah. Why is it that all the slow drivers in the country always get in front of you when you are in a hurry??
And they were gone. The Savannah is fairly flat so I was able to see for quite a distance and nothing was in sight for as far as my eyes could see. There is a tree near to where I had seen them, and quite often some homeless person or the other uses it as his base. Sometimes these people are mentally ill, so other than the dogs, I keep an eye out for them too. As I looked towards the tree, I saw that there was a man sitting under it and he seemed to be writing something on a piece of paper. When I looked more closely, there was one of the pups - the dark one - lying calmly at his feet.
After some inward argument, I went a little closer and asked him if he had seen the mother dog and the other pup. He told me there were somewhere around. He seemed quite pleasant, so I told him I had brought food for them and he got up and began walking towards me, calling the puppy to come to him. At first the pup was hesitant, but I was able to entice him with a few pieces of the cheese that I threw on the ground in front of him. Like the bread crumbs in Hansel and Gretel, he followed the cheese until he got to the bowl of cold milk. I thought I had put out enough milk for both of the puppies, but that little dog drank almost the whole thing. I am sure he is going to bring it back up because he could hardly wobble away by the time he was finished, but I did not have the heart to stop him. He is actually brindle coloured, and has the largest ears in puppydom.
The mother dog and the brother never made an appearance, so I left the dog food with the guy and asked him to give it to them, which he promised to do. I will try to go back tomorrow with more food and maybe a better plan to get them to come with me. As I was walking back to the car, it dawned on me that at that time of the day the Savannah is practically deserted except for some very strange characters - not the least of which was yours truly.
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