Kuning was visibly & audibly upset when Er Win left the fish farm off Selat Kering Island to do a visual survey with his kayak early in the morning (last Saturday) as he had gotten very attached to him over the night. He slept outside my tent & at times, walking over Er Wins torso, stepping on his family jewels & all, which I didn’t think Er Win would mind.
He was missing from the fish farm today. Hitam was nowhere to be seen too. So I asked the workers where they had gone to (my first suspicion was that they had swum over to Selat Kering to locate their friends). The worker told me they had gone deep into the interiors as he had heard their barks on the southern side, not where they would usually go. Dogs have an uncanny ability to sense things & whatever brought them there, they must have been driven by senses that we humans cannot comprehend. Half expecting them to be jungle-wise, I hope they would lead their friends to the food & water given & go back to the safety of the farm.
Keith Khoo, a long lost diver friend, who reconnected with me through this case, accompanied Joanne & I on this trip to speak to the boatman in Hokkien & hopefully, whoever we come across in the course of our mission as I dont speak the language. The boatman was perplexed as to why people would spend money on lives they deemed useless (referring to the dogs that they discarded) & Keith drew an analogy & asked the boatman, “Sir, if you were to have a heart attack, would you like to die immediately or go in a slow & painful death as you lay bedridden???” He replied, “Die better.”
“So likewise, these dogs are suffering a slow & painful death that peoples actions have inflicted upon them. Their lives may not be important to you because you were not brought up to love them but in our culture, our parents have taught us to love animals & respect all lives. They have as much right to live as we do. And animals are very much a part of our lives. To see something of this magnitude happen to them, people are angry, saddened, upset & shocked so they want to get them out to a safe place where they can live again,” Keith added.
Logic has spoken & the boatman went home understanding why we are doing all this. To them, and to the villagers of Pulau Ketam too, I believe, the concept of responsible pet ownership doesn’t exist. Their lives are simple. They live as fishermen & small time traders. The village is separated from the mainland & most cannot grasp the concept of keeping animals properly. A lot of them are not learned let alone hear about animal sanctuaries & places for animals such as Furry Friends Farm which had started 3 years ago, way before the expose of Pulau Ketam. They sought the help of the Klang Town Council (MPK) & that’s the advice & solution given. MPK sanctioned the catching (paid the villagers who trapped them too) and the dumping. The MPK councilor in charge of Pulau Ketam area had the cheek to make insinuations at the meeting yesterday at the very people who stepped forward to help them after their blooming mistake. Again, SP Wong who chaired the meeting put everyone in their places including her colleague who made the remarks in my presence. People (like those present) who cast the first stone are usually people who like to lord over others & those who feel more righteous than others. Surely God sees all that’s happening & I rest in that knowledge that He will vindicate. We just do our part & fulfill what we started.
When people show no respect, they shouldnt expect any respect from me so call me rude if you must, as I will be rude to antagonistic people who display themselves to be worse off than the ignorant, less educated villagers of Pulau Ketam.
Long after this mission is over, the work at the sanctuary (FFF) will still continue. We are in the process of getting little name tags & collars for ALL the furkids at FFF. If you would like to be a part of this personalisation project, please get a medium sized collar for any number of dogs you want to sponsor. The tags are between RM6 – RM8 each with engraving of the dogs name. I will ask Bobby (friend of Maryanne) if its okay for you to contact him directly & order the tags before I post up his mobile number here. Sabrina is at the farm, TV Smith is coordinating corporate help while we are at the kelong.
Every one of the volunteers have been superb in giving their all to help us coordinate this. Jon, Lynn & Coralyn Yap have been baking Apple Cakes for us to fill our hunger pangs in between meals on the kelong, Er Win (pharmacist) & Chris giving of their skills in survey, outdoor & recognaissance, Joanne in her super sharp observance of animal behaviour including the two-legged kind, Connie who had been remarkably resourceful in her local logistics connections, Marjorie & Karin for their great carpentry work on the feeding pontoons, Nicole, Zalina & Janet in the secretariat handling all sorts of enquiries and the many who are working in the background providing legal, financial, moral & media support whose names are not mentioned here for obvious reasons. We are so grateful to have you & I hope to be able to meet each & everyone of you one day over a glass of teh tarik. Maybe even bring my Mighty Rufus along because Im sure, he is somewhat like Kuning, who gets upset when I leave the nest to save his kind in a mangrove swamp somewhere out there……..
Dear Pummkin, THANK YOU, THANK YOU for your beautiful, well-written post. I have come to love these dogs too and my hopes lives through all of you helping them. Please let us know when Kuning and Hitam return. I agree, they probably are concerned for their friends. My belief is that animals feel every emotion we do. They may not have the same reasoning skills as humans, but they certainly feel every emotion. (I recommend an excellent book on animal behavior entitled :”Animals in Translation” by Temple Grandin, Phd.).
And PLEASE thank Keith Khoo who explained better than anything I could think of why we care about the dogs. BEAUTIFULLY done.
God bless you and all the lives you are helping.
Kim Gorman, O.D.
Yeh! Yeh! I want! I want to participate in the personalisation project, say.. start with 10 doggies first, on my mistress’ expense, of course. She wanted to donate but is slow in doing so. All she did was following up on the rescue mission and worry her head off. But, am sure she’ll get round to it come the school holidays. I know she prays daily for all you kind souls and my fellow kind.
…woof
p/s let me know my IOU.
Hello Pummkin! Everything all you volunteers & FFF have been doing is absolutely amazing. It’s enlightening for all of us to know that there is someone out there who can be so selfless & persistent with this mission that doesn’t promises fruitful returns right from the beginning. God bless all & will continue with my support to FFF financially from time to time.
Love, Noriko
London
Pummkin,
Thank you for writing with so much passion and standing up for all rights that you believe in for everyone, the dogs rescued from PK and of course the woman with a big heart , Sabrina.
My friends and I have constantly followed up on the the rescue mission and have also tried our best to collect whatever monetary contributions we can so far. Frankly, I didn’t know much about FFF before but am glad I do now. We plan to visit FFF soon to help out further.
Hi Pam,
As I am truely concern about the dogs trapped in the swamp, I had been following closely some of the shelter’s updates.
I came to read about one very disturbing sentence “(Note : For Day 7, SPCA was requested to not carry out rescue efforts, as FFF had organized a rescue effort together with MPK dog-catchers).” from this : http://www.enewsletter.com.my/newsletter/N1682.html.
I think besides me, many good samaritans would be interested to know WHO actually requested this?
Now if this is really true, I think its absolutely uncaring of the person/organisation/govt body to have come up with such a request? I hope the one who claim this can say who actually had requested for SPCA to stop their rescue effort for a day?
thanks for the updates! remembering you all as you go on your missions… 🙂
Kuning sayang his saviour-lah. Hitam pun sayang and kesian kawan-kawan-nya. I am truly amazed with all the volunteers tireless efforts, you guys are really God send and Angels on Earth. Please dont let anyone/ any organisation sabotage such a noble and sincere project. Ultimately its for the dogs and the goal is to get as many to a safe sanctuary, period. You will always have my support and will keep rallying my friends to do the same. THANK YOU SAVIOURS.
Hi Pummkin,
I’ve been following your blogs (and tv smith’s) closely for several weeks now and I must commend everyone involved in this rescue mission.
As a volunteer at a my local dog refuge in Perth (also a no-kill sanctuary) I completely understand the hardship that you face. However, as a Malaysian, I also understand that the task you have before you is a hundred times more challenging. Those who do not understand the compassion we feel for these innocent dogs probably never owned a pet before.
I thought of flying over to assist in the rescue efforts but after deliberating, I have decided to donate instead. After all, I rather have my money spent on canines than airfares! Also, I wrote to Oprah but she did not replied, oh well.
But I’m not giving up. Emailing Australian tv stations now. I just hope that they can highlight the plight of these dogs and who knows?
God bless all of you!
Kim, its not nec to thank me. I merely make the points easier for the boatman & his friend to digest. I also asked what will happen to us ‘townies’ if we got beamed into the middle of the 100mil year old rainforest with nothing but clothes on our back. What will happen to us in say 3days? Mr boatman replied “Wah! hungry, cold and die already lah!”
So, I said, samo samo to them ‘urban doggies’ lah 🙂
Hi Pam,
well, Dr Gorman, Mrs Tham and Raja Hanim had said all there is to be said. Well done, syabas.
Not only do i believe that animal have emotions just like us, i believe that they DO understand what we are thinking or saying – because they do grasp our emotions and thoughts – like sort of telephatically – i had these proven to me by my own cats and my own dogs.
I can’t do much except to provide support and aid whenever i can. So i do truly appreciate your group’s steadfast efforts in really doing what has to be done with minimal fuss and complain. That’s what i deem Leadership By Example – Living By Your MIssion Statement and Objective.
We all understand the trials and tribulations and challenges your team out at PUlau Selat Kering / Pulau Tengah and the team at FFF with Sabrina as well as all your supporters and volunteers are facing now. I’m one of your supporters who was flamed at one of the pet-centric forums when i spoke out against the wild allegations and insinuation against FFF and asked for more logic and rationality when they made their comments. I was targeted too because I happened to be an independent animal rescuer who has thrown my support behind FFF because I truly believe in and identify with FFF’s mission statement and objective.
All these just had hardened my determination to be steadfast in my resolve to channel my energy, my time, my effort to FFF because i believe we can always be the voice for these hapless animals without having to engage in low-down dirty malicious and vindictive methods and tricks to do it.
I believe I’m speaking on behalf of all your supporters and well-wishers when I said Pls Know that We Are Truly More Than 100 Percent Behind FFF and we will definitely rise to the occasion should our support be required in any other tangible way (other than the current assistance and gifts).
Know That We Are 100 Percent Behind You As Well As By Your Side – Take Heart from Our Warm Thoughts.
hugs.
ashley
Know That We Are 100 Percent Behind You As Well As By Your Side – Take Heart from Our Warm Thoughts. Yes
I like the explanation given by Keith and touched as well by how attached kuning is to Er Win! It just melt my heart everytime i see doggies show sad faces and waited patiently for the return of the owners. They are truly loyal and faithful.
Btw, regarding the dog tag, how’s the arrangement like? Appreciate if you could email me with more info on how to order.
Thanks!
Dear Pummkin,
Any news about Kuning and Hitam? I’m worried they might be trapped in the mangrove swamp again and is unable to get out. Hopefully if you guys are patrolling the area to look for other dogs, you’ll find the two lovely babies.
Remember that we are all behind you and FFF 100% all the way.
Kuning is a mighty handsome mutt! Please give him a huge hug from us here in Penang 🙂