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Visit to Death island for dogs
dumped Local Pulau Ketam stray dogs
There was barely sufficient land for the dogs to stand on
By: Teoh El Sen
Malay Mail Thursday, May 7th, 2009 06:24:00

I EXPECTED blood, death and mad dogs chewing on the bones of their own kind. But what I saw yesterday was even worse. Though never a dog lover, there was something that touched this cold heart of a crime journalist.



RESCUED: The two dogs saved from the Selat Kering island taking a rest after they were put on the boat yesterday

Something that made me care for these creatures a little more than I would have expected to. I had followed the early morning rescue team to save dogs that had been unceremoniously dumped on an island some 25 minutes by boat from Pulau Ketam.

During the ride, I was thinking that I would be seeing a pack of angry snarling wild dogs, all barking at us, waiting to be rescued.

Animals that have gone mad from days of starvation, or from the fact that they had eaten one of their kind. And were just ready to snap at the next living thing that came their way. But as the boat neared Pulau Selat Kering, what I saw was truly a pitiful sight.

An island it was, but there wasn’t even enough land for the dogs to stand on!

We spotted a cute terrier-like puppy crouched on a branch, looking forlornly at the sea. It looked like that thick branch was the only “land” it had known for quite a while.

When workers from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) waded onto a small shore (always wary of quicksand) and placed a pack of feed to lure the dogs, it was then that I thought I saw more in the lives these dogs had been forced to cling to. They were thin and emaciated.

Most hardly had the strength to walk straight, let alone bark. In a short while a group of dogs gathered around the food, quickly chewing and swallowing what they could, lest the “miracle” disappeared all too soon.


And as we observed the feeding scene before us, I thought to myself, what could that one dog be thinking? Of the days he fed on scraps of who-knows-what and if he was lucky, a fish carcass?

Of the day he witnessed one of his kind becoming food for the others or how he succumbed to hunger and took a bite too? Of how and why these humans have come here. Possibly to haul them in cages to another prison of sorrow? Or maybe he was pondering the fate of a kinsman, who braved the open sea in search of home, and failed.

The wide-eyed dog simply trotted over and joined his two friends to munch on the food. But then came time for action, to stop this “undogly” life for these dogs, and the catchers sprang into action. Coming slowly with a rope, the rescue workers soon realised that these dogs were still pretty scared of humans as they bolted to hide.

One black one gave up when two men came and grabbed it firmly. He was brought on the boat and placed in a spacious cage. I wondered if he knew he was the lucky one. He would get treatment, shelter, food, water, and maybe one day an owner who’d give him a warm, fuzzy home.

Such hopelessness. Such despair. Such disgrace to life. This, was all man’s doing, and man must rectify this.
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