Chapter 1 & 2
Chapter 1. Did
the Animal Activist Fail in Her Mission?
Chapter 2. A Volunteer with Passion Is worth 40
Merely Interested. .
Chapter 3 - 5. This webpage has Chapters 2 - 5.
Chapter 3. The Looters Attacked the Pack Leader.
Chapter 4. If Only We Can Turn Back the Clock
for the Pack Leader.
Chapter 5. NANAS. Swamp Dogs Saved From
Lethal Injections.
Chapter 6. Emily visits Bobby in Jun 2008
AN ANIMAL ACTIVIST SAVED
THE YISHUN SWAMP DOGS FROM DEATH BY LETHAL INJECTION -
Chapters 3 - 5
Chapter 3 - The
Looters Attached The Pack Leader.
July 8, 2007. 9
am. At a Singapore Veterinary Surgery.
How come a young and fit leader of a pack of swamp
dogs would suffer injuries? I had to find out. I
e-mailed Esther who was his care-giver, for details.
Esther e-mailed me 2 handphone pictures of Bobby's
truncated tail.
In the above picture, the veterinarian had shaved off
the hair. You could see a sharp vertical sliced up
tail of Bobby. Bobby lost around 3/4 of his tail. It
was unlikely to be a monitor lizard's bite. Who could
be so cruel?
I visited Bobby on the fine morning of July 8, 2007, a
Sunday. His tail had been amputated on the previous
day.
I e-mailed Esther as to ask her what had happened to
Bobby. She and her two children still cared for them
after the military deadline to vacate the land by June
24. Tenant 1 had vacated the land and was not residing
in the house at night.
I had met Esther on June 14, 2007 when Lynda organised
an expedition to get a vet (me) to vaccinate and
microchip the swamp dogs.
Esther had contacted Lynda to help save the swamp dogs
from lethal injections. If they could be relocated to
NANAS (Noah's Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary), they
would live to the end of their natural lives. If not,
it would be death by lethal injections.
Only the 68-year-old man was living in the premises
but he lived further up the track and the pack of dogs
of Tenant 1 were not close to him. He had his own 8
dogs.
The law of the concrete jungle applied to vacant
properties. Looters who could be burglars and foreign
construction workers invade vacant houses and
apartments if they know nobody is watching.
Bobby, the leader of the pack of swamp dogs for Tenant
1 tried to guard the house from intruders.
Esther provided the history of what happened and 2
pictures. The story was as follows:
E-MAIL FROM ESTHER
July 9, 2007
<....@imode.sg> wrote:
Hi doctor sing,
This is the first picture that I took on Jul 2, 2007
(Monday) when he was sent to the veterinary surgery. I
thought his tail was hacked off. What do you think? I
hope the picture taken by my handphone is clear.
Regards.
E-MAIL REPLY TO ESTHER
July 8, 2007(Sun).
Hi Esther
From your mobile phone picture, Bobby's tail could be
cut off with a short object.
I phoned the vet on July 6, 2007. He said that Bobby's
tail was badly infected and gangrenous. Bobby's tail
needed to be amputated. But he would not speculate how
Bobby's tail got injured. Please answer the following
questions:
1. When was Bobby's tail hacked?
Answer: A few days before 2nd July, 2007 (Monday). The
old couple told me when I asked them.
2. When you first saw him? Answer :
1st July (Sunday).
3. When was he sent to the veterinarian?
Answer: 2nd July 2007 night
Bobby would sit there waiting for the old couple. They
do not stay there
anymore in the night since the 3rd wk of June.
(The military had acquired the premises and all
tenants must vacate by June 24, 2007. Tenant 1 with
the patriarch and wife, described as the "old couple"
below did not stay in the house at night after the
deadline).
Bobby would "jaga" (Malay word for guard) the place.
We know because when we went to
see the dogs in the evening time few times, we saw
Bobby sitting where Lynda parked her car.
As we walked in and from quite a distance, Bobby would
lift up his head to check on us. He would jump with
joy when he recognised us. But when he saw strangers,
he would charge at them followed by the rest of pack.
4. Was he the top dog in the pack?
Answer: Yes, he is the leader. He is a very loyal dog.
Remember the area where Lynda from NANAS parked her
car a few metres before the fishing pond on
June 14, 2007 when you vaccinated 21 dogs?
The old man's son-in-law told me that their tools are
missing and that someone entered the old man's bedroom
recently. I suspect Bobby got injured in his tail
trying to protect a stupid empty house. In that area,
foreign workers walked around with parangs (machetes)
in their hands. They could be looking for durians and
other things.
5. All dogs are frightened of Bobby?
Answer: I have not seen any dog fight with him at the
old couple's fishing
pond every time we were there.
Vacant houses and apartments in Singapore have been
burglarised. So, I was not surprised that Tenant 1's
house was ransacked at night. The Looters from the
concrete jungle had attacked the Leader of the Pack.
It was kind of Esther to get Bobby treated rather than
abandoning him to die from septic wounds. We just hope
that Bobby would recover and be in NANAS as soon as
possible.
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Chapter 4.
If Only We Can Turn Back the Clock For the Pack
Leader.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Whining and noisy past
midnight for 3 nights
If the first-time
owner knew how to handle a whining puppy, life
would be so much different and better for him to stay
in Singapore, but...see story below...
Extracts from a letter
to Dr Sing
Bobby was born on August 9th, 2005, the (Singapore)
National Day in the side house facing the fishing
pond. He was the only survivor out of 7 puppies. The
rest of the puppies just disappear within weeks after
they were born.
We first saw Bobby on August 21, 2005. That was our
first trip to the fishing pond. We adopted Bobby when
he was only 6 weeks old as this was the only way to
save him. But at my apartment, he often cried and made
a lot of noise for 3 nights until our neighbour
complained. We had no choice but to return Bobby back
to the fishing pond.
By June 2007, the military wanted the land and the
fishing pond back by not renewing the tenancy. The old
couple's daughter-in-law went to check with an animal
shelter about rehoming the dogs. She was told that the
dogs especially mongrels would not be put up for
adoption. The animal shelter had limited kennel spaces
and there were too many of these cross-bred dogs in
Singapore. The solution is that animal shelter
personnel would come and pick up 6 dogs at time for a
few times. The dogs would be put to sleep.
It was by chance that I only know about NANAS (Noah's
Ark Natural Animal Sanctuary) on February 24, 2007 at
the animal shelter. A Schnauzer Cross entered my
apartment. My door was open. It was the first day
Chinese New Year and my relatives were around. I asked
neighbours upstairs, downstairs and nearby blocks but
had no luck finding its owner.
February 24, 2007 was the day I surrendered the dog to
the animal shelter. The dog was not friendly to the
staff. It also peed and pooped on me as I was carrying
it. The animal shelter staff said that this dog would
be put to sleep within 24 hours or earlier if it bit
any of the staff.
Some members of the public viewing the dogs for
adoption there came to check why this Schnauzer Cross
was howling away and struggling when the staff tried
to scan it to detect a microchip. A couple heard my
discussion about rehoming and mentioned NANAS. That
was how I managed to find Lynda Goh for help.
(The write spent past 2 years with Bobby at the
fishing pond. The family went there to fish. Bobby
would rush to welcome them.
After Bobby's tail was hacked and then amputated, the
writer took him home. But the Schnauzer Cross barked
all the time when Bobby there. Another dog did not
bother about Bobby. So, Bobby had to join his pack at
NANAS).
HOW TO HANDLE WHINING
PUPPIES FOR FIRST 7 NIGHTS?
As there is no way to turn back the
clock for Bobby, I write the following for those
who adopt or buy puppies and face noisy ones for
the first few nights. Apartment neighbours don't
like noise disturbances.
The following bedtime tips may be useful:
1. Ignore the puppy is one way. But that
has to be done by all family members. There
should be nobody going to the puppy when it
whines or barks. It knows that it is rewarded
for attention and continues.
2. Crate the puppy and put the crate in your
bedroom. Cover the crate with a blanket. Have
chew toys inside the crate.
3. Switch on the radio or put a clock next to
the puppy at night. Put in an old shirt of
yours. Maybe a hot-water bottle in the crate.
4. As for paragraph 4,
but the old shirt is from the breeder's or
kennels where you purchased the puppy.
5. Sleep beside the puppy at night for the first
few nights. Some puppies want to go to the
toilet past midnight as they don't want to soil
their crates. The whining happens after
midnight. Pay your child to do this job for the
first 3 nights. Buy the puppy over the weekend
so that you have the free time to do the job.
6. Cover up all sides of the crate so that the
puppy feels safe.
7. Continuous positive reinforcement training.
Put food treats inside the crate. Say "Go
crate". Food treats and praises. Do not expect
results in less than 14 days of training.
8. Sleep in your bed as one option for small
breeds.
9. Exercise the puppy till it is tired and just
wants to sleep. No afternoon nap.
10. Put the puppy in a boarding kennel
for 3 - 7 nights if the puppy is a noise
nuisance and barks loudly in the middle of the
night, upsetting neighbours.
In many cases, the puppy
quietens on returning home.
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TIPS TO STOP
PUPPIES BARKING
Best time to train is when the puppy is young. But you
must know why the puppy barks. Below are the common
situations:
1. Bark to ask you to
wake up past midnight to change the soiled
newspapers inside the crate during the first week. If
you can't get up, the puppy may continue barking.
Some first-time owners get up and gave the puppy a
spanking or shouting. They don't know that they have
to change the soiled papers, thinking that the
neighbours will be upset at this noise nuisance. Some
owners change the papers and the barking stops. Do not
play with the puppy. Just change and go to sleep. The
tone of bark sounds different.
2. Boredom. The more he barks, the more attention he
gets. So he barks more.
3. To let you know that someone or something is
unusual.
4. Greeting you.
Train him not to bark when you are at home:
1. Find a situation where your dog will always bark.
For example, a person knocks on the door or rings a
door bell. Somebody walking past the apartment.
2. When your rushes to the door and bark loudly, go to
your dog, grab his collar and give him the command
“quiet” in a firm voice.
3. If he stops barking, praise and reward him with
food treats and a pat.
4. If he continues barking, gently close his mouth
with your hand, wrap your fingers around his muzzle
and say “quiet”. Some owners spank their hand at the
same time and it can be quite effective.
Praise and reward him with food treats if he stops.
Most dogs will be able to learn the “quiet” command
with repeated training as described above.
5. Get a friend to knock the door etc. and repeat the
training for around 5-10 minutes. Praise and reward
are important. Soon the puppy is trained.
For older or rescued dogs, it is very difficult in
some cases. If you spend time training, chances of
success are high.
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Chapter 5.
Swamp Dogs Saved From Lethal Injection.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
A text message to Dr
Sing
Hi Doc Sing,
Sorry I could not talk too long cause my side here is
too noisy as I am at the old folk's home. I appreciate
your news about Bobby. Now I am very happy :-).
From: Esther Seah,
2.43 pm 1 Aug 2007.
I had just phoned Esther to update her on Bobby who
had survived a hacking of his tail and was now safely
in the collection area of NANAS (Noah Ark's Natural
Animal Sanctuary). She wanted to visit Bobby earlier
but it was best to get proper appointments.
"Let Bobby settle down and make proper appointments,"
I advised. "Appointments are needed to visit dogs at
NANAS as the people there have so many things to do.
In any case, you are no longer the owner of Bobby..."
I could understand Esther's concerns. It was like
giving up a child for adoption. Would the child be
well looked after? How did the child fit in?
"Too much interference from the previous owner asking
questions about the adopted dog would not be in the
interest of Bobby and would affect the acceptance of
other new cases by a charitable organisation," I said
to Esther. "Concerns for the adopted dog may not be
well accepted since the organisation is busy with so
many things to do." She understood and waited for the
right time to visit Bobby.
On that day, I had phoned Mr Raymund Wee, the founder
of NANAS asking whether there is a business prospect
of Malaysians being interested in a gadget to stop
birds from eating the left over food at the hawker
centre. He gave his views and then volunteered the
information about the swamp dogs now at NANAS.
"There is a dog with a tail amputated and stitched,"
he said.
"Oh, that's Bobby," I knew this dog well, "Somebody
hacked his tail off." Esther took him to the vet to
get him treated.
"Did you do the surgery?" Raymund asked.
"No," I told him the name of the vet who did it. "How
is he doing?"
"He is all right. Now he is at the collection area."
That was good news and I quickly let Esther know.
Bobby was 6 weeks old when Esther had adopted him as
his siblings disappeared one by one. In retrospect,
the monitor lizards might have devoured them when they
wandered around the fishing pond area.
However, Bobby was noisy for 3 days and Esther's
neighbours complained about the noise nuisance. In
Singapore, the authorities would come and evict Esther
from her apartment as keeping an unapproved cross-bred
that would grow above a certain approved weight was
illegal.
So, Bobby was back at the fishing pond. For the past 2
years, Esther and her family saw Bobby as they went
fishing in the Yishun Fish Pond and swamp lands in the
north of Singapore.
In June 2007, the whole area was acquired by the
military and all swamp dogs would have to be put to
sleep by lethal injections or left to look after
themselves if they remained in Singapore.
Fortunately Mr Wee accepted them in NANAS where they
would live out their natural lives in freedom. Lynda
Goh, an Animal Welfare Volunteer and Vice-President of NANAS had
completed her mission successfully.
P.S
Esther visited Bobby at NANAS on August 11, 2007. Bobby was in good hands.
Chapter 6. Emily visits Bobby in Jun 2008
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