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...I need to write this down right now, because I have to get it out of my head and heart and mind.
Today is the last day of my holiday (public holiday tomorrow, back to work on Wednesday), and I played tennis in the late morning, then went grocery shopping and then home, where I was enjoying a lazy afternoon, all doors and windows open because it's wonderfully warm, when I heard the typical wail of one or more very young puppies.
Went out on the balcony and immediately spotted them: three fur balls, on their own. Heart sinking, I started to fret, when suddenly the mother showed up. Quite an impressive lady, rather big. Two of the pups ran to her immediately, and I thought, ok, one worry less. The mother hasn't been run over by a car or some similar canine catastrophe.
The third one didn't join the family, though; its wails became more and more panicky, and soon it was evident that the poor little creature had got caught up in the fence surrounding the mostly-abandoned building site where they obviously live. I watched for a couple minutes -- maybe, I thought, the little one will be able to free itself -- until it was clear that the pup was stuck. Not hurt -- the wire isn't barbed, but in that place the wire netting was all folded up and coiled around itself -- but definitely unable to get out.
My stomach is still heaving with a mix of horror and pity, when I think of the little dog screaming. Not whining or wailing, not yapping or barking, but screaming. Like a terrified baby. Which it pretty much was.
So I went down to see whether I could help.
The caretaker was standing there, too, but warned me to go near the pup, because the mother would probably attack.
Now I may have lost my fear of dogs, but as I said that bitch was pretty impressive. Not to metion distressed.
In the end I accepted that for the moment there was nothing I could do, and went back up, resolving to watch until maybe the mother would go away, and then dart down to free the pup.
I felt like the worst coward in the whole world, ashamed and helpless, even though rationally I knew that touching the little one with the mother ten metres away would be really, really dangerous.
So I resigned myself to hearing those screams of distress until the bitch would go away.
When I entered the building, a middle-aged guy was getting out of his car he had just parked in front of the entrance, and looking around for the source of the noise.
Back in my flat, I went over to the window and... the guy was walking towards the pup, watched avidly but not hostilely by the bitch, and he pulled the little one free.
I have to admit that I sat down on the floor and cried with relief. Then I got a stress migraine, which I deem appropriate punishment for having been a coward. (nah, not really)
But I'm so glad the guy did what he did. If it hadn't been wildly inappropriate (and probably shocked the poor man into never, ever again rescuing a puppy) I would have run down and hugged him.
End of story.
Not end of migraine, alas, but I'll survive.
Today is the last day of my holiday (public holiday tomorrow, back to work on Wednesday), and I played tennis in the late morning, then went grocery shopping and then home, where I was enjoying a lazy afternoon, all doors and windows open because it's wonderfully warm, when I heard the typical wail of one or more very young puppies.
Went out on the balcony and immediately spotted them: three fur balls, on their own. Heart sinking, I started to fret, when suddenly the mother showed up. Quite an impressive lady, rather big. Two of the pups ran to her immediately, and I thought, ok, one worry less. The mother hasn't been run over by a car or some similar canine catastrophe.
The third one didn't join the family, though; its wails became more and more panicky, and soon it was evident that the poor little creature had got caught up in the fence surrounding the mostly-abandoned building site where they obviously live. I watched for a couple minutes -- maybe, I thought, the little one will be able to free itself -- until it was clear that the pup was stuck. Not hurt -- the wire isn't barbed, but in that place the wire netting was all folded up and coiled around itself -- but definitely unable to get out.
My stomach is still heaving with a mix of horror and pity, when I think of the little dog screaming. Not whining or wailing, not yapping or barking, but screaming. Like a terrified baby. Which it pretty much was.
So I went down to see whether I could help.
The caretaker was standing there, too, but warned me to go near the pup, because the mother would probably attack.
Now I may have lost my fear of dogs, but as I said that bitch was pretty impressive. Not to metion distressed.
In the end I accepted that for the moment there was nothing I could do, and went back up, resolving to watch until maybe the mother would go away, and then dart down to free the pup.
I felt like the worst coward in the whole world, ashamed and helpless, even though rationally I knew that touching the little one with the mother ten metres away would be really, really dangerous.
So I resigned myself to hearing those screams of distress until the bitch would go away.
When I entered the building, a middle-aged guy was getting out of his car he had just parked in front of the entrance, and looking around for the source of the noise.
Back in my flat, I went over to the window and... the guy was walking towards the pup, watched avidly but not hostilely by the bitch, and he pulled the little one free.
I have to admit that I sat down on the floor and cried with relief. Then I got a stress migraine, which I deem appropriate punishment for having been a coward. (nah, not really)
But I'm so glad the guy did what he did. If it hadn't been wildly inappropriate (and probably shocked the poor man into never, ever again rescuing a puppy) I would have run down and hugged him.
End of story.
Not end of migraine, alas, but I'll survive.
