May 23, 2013

Contrasts

On this, my third visit to El Refugio, I've been struck once again by the contrast, the enormous and striking contrast between cruelty and indifference on the one hand and love, humanity, generously and selflessness on the other.

To take just two examples. Fabienne picked me up from the airport and after a coffee and a catch up we drove off to a killing station. I am not going to say which one - for obvious a reasons. El Refugio is full but Fabienne with her enormous loving heart had promised Amalia that she would takes two particular dogs, dogs Amalia had identified earlier. Fabienne keeps her promises. She also gave me the opportunity to save one dog - a little one or a medium sized one.

Cloie and Pippy, safe at last.

It's so hard. You want to take them all. Impossible. Fabienne works miracles, but sometimes you just cannot physically fit any more in. Even so, in the end my one little dog became two little dogs. Because after I had 'chosen' a small dog who seemed particularly frightened and confused, we discovered that she had a sister in the same cage. What do you do? Take both of course but more of that in another post. For now let's stick to contrasts.

The killing stations do just that, just what it says on the tin. They kill dogs. I mean there's a tourist industry to think of isn't there? And money to be made. OK they say. You want to rescue a dog, or several dogs. You're mad of course, but after all it's up to you. Your choice. But it will cost you. Take them off our hands by all means, they say, but you have to pay us for each dog you rescue (it varies between €34 and €74 for each dog.) Nice little earner, even without mentioning the fact that this is actually saving the killing station money. Half the time they don't even feed the animals. What's the point! That's the way they think.

All this is horrible, really horrible. Yet there's more. There's the hypocrisy. In the reception area - the public face of the killing station - there are posters with pictures of missing or stolen dogs with emotional appeals for their safe return. Don't they see the irony? Obviously not. And then there are the leaflets. "An animal isn't a toy" they proclaim. "This is a campaign to wipe out the incidence of abandoned pets"they write, urging sterilisation and micro-chipping. Huh! This the same place that accepts unwanted pets - unwanted for the flimsiest and most selfish reasons - yet allows the same people to leave with yet another dog, a younger and prettier model.  Which in turn will be brought back in a few years time when it's older, when the people are tired of it. The place that keeps the animals in appalling conditions and makes you pay to save them! Give me a break.

Some of our dogs. Clean, loved, fed and hoping for new homes. 

In contrast you have all the determined, courageous and loving people who devote themselves to animals - to their own family pets and to the abandoned and abused ones. Who rescue them either physically or by supporting those who do by giving money and time. I'll give just one example. Winston. His story is already in Fabienne's Diary on the website. You can read all the details there. I am just going to relate what I witnessed yesterday at the gates of El Refugio. I had read the email sent by a lady called Jean Sampson, though at first I hadn't made the connection. But I did recognise Winston, the goat dog. The dog that Jean and her friend had found living behind their  apartments, old, sad, abandoned and mistreated - his ears have been cut and a rope was cutting into his neck.

They fed him, they treated his fleas, they spoke to him kindly and showed him love - almost certainly the only love he has ever known. Jean and her friend have three dogs each. They couldn't take Winston in, however much they longed to. So Jean wrote to Fabienne, acknowledging the difficulty, that El Refugio was full. But begging, asking not for herself but for Winston. Anyone who knows Fabienne will be in no doubt of the outcome. So yesterday afternoon I was in the Refugio waiting for her when someone came to tell me she was outside 'with two ladies and a dog. ' Jean, her friend and Winston.

Winston: so badly treated, yet still so trusting.

It was touching, the way they cared for that dog. Heartwarming to see how thoughtful they were - they had brought food, soft bedding and on top of that a substantial donation  towards Winston's keep. He is safe now and hopefully he will have a family of his own before too long. Something he has never known. He is beautiful and gentle, even though he's in constant pain - we now suspect that he's been hit by a car. He can't stand properly.

Diana is taking care of him with her other foster dogs. Fabienne will make sure he gets treated. He is a beautiful dog with the most wonderful, amber eyes. Like jewels. He looks at you trustingly. God knows humans have done nothing to earn that trust. Until now. But he can trust ACE. And he seems to know it.

A beautiful dog like Winston deserves a beautiful and loving home.

From the cruelty and hypocrisy of the officially sanctioned killing stations to the boundless care, love, devotion and tireless work of all those who work in and for ACE and for all those nameless people who do what they can for all animals in distress.

Contrasts.



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