The gloomy tale of street dogs

Jan 21, 2009 Letters

Dear Editor,

I refer to an article in the 01-07-09 Guyana Chronicle titled “The stray dog nuisance needs to be focused upon.” It is not a matter of choice, but a matter of circumstances, for the multitude of dogs that roam the streets in search of something, because they have nothing.

A narrative of street dogs forsaken and abandoned by long ago owners that have migrated: We have been roaming the streets for years, mixing and meddling with our other homeless street buddies. We wished to escape a life of not producing puppies, but trouble was everywhere and we could not run, so you know the end result. We gave birth to scores of pups over and over, thus populating the streets. We are heart-broken looking for our lost or stolen puppies. I dread to think they are slain or hit by vehicles, left alone to suffer in silence. Or our pups are all grown and they, too, have given birth over and over, only to worry about a horrible street existence, while oftentimes they are run over by vehicles.

We raise our unhappy heads and suffering eyes up to the sky, praying for rain to wash our itchy, scruffy bodies, because society scorns us. It did rain and pour. Oh wow! What a beautiful feeling we could become man’s best friend again; but we are not holding our breaths, for we are outcast dogs, voiceless, helpless and always at the mercy of cruel human hands.

How we long to beg for owners, our best friends, but we have no voice, and our sad, weary, crying eyes are shunned. Our scornful life is a daily struggle for basic food and water. But let me tell you that our food and water are not nice and tasty, like yours. Our daily intake to satisfy hunger and thirst is contaminated with infectious diseases, having to eat from street garbage washed down with dirty water. But we cannot protest our contempt, since we have no voice or a choice.

Permit me, human race, to jolt your absent-mindedness to notice our troubles. We are dogs with vital organs as we, too, are living entities, like you. We can contract chronic contagious diseases. Only difference is that, if you are diagnosed with such ailments, you will get treated. But we are street dogs and could never dream of such a privilege, so we mercifully request your table scraps that could lessen our malnourishment before the gates of doggie heaven open to accept us. Happy days are here again!

We are dogs with a fundamental right to life, just like you, so please do not judge us by our misfortune. It was our masters who committed us to a lifetime sentence on the streets, but here are some initiatives to expand and build on. Encourage people to fence their yards to contain and enclose their dogs. Spay and neuter your dogs to minimize population. Vacant plots of land with barriers and sheds can be utilised as sanctuaries for your dogs. Provide shelter to control and oversee your dogs. To reduce their suffering, do not add to street population.

Zenobia Williams