Osprey
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3694
Registered: 5-23-2004
Location: Baja Ca. Sur
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Baja Mutts and Morals
A few days ago I found a female mutt, dead, in the middle of a dirt road not far from the beach. It was well out of town close to a brushy area.
Three of her scrawny pups had escaped the car/truck accident that killed their mother. They were probably still sucklings when she died and as I
pulled up, stopped, I could see they were eating her meat. They ran and hid in the thick brush when I pulled what was left of the corpse off the road
into the shade by the brush.
I was filled with repulsion and sadness ? at a loss as to what to do about the carcass, the pups. Should I bury the carcass? The pups will die
without food. If I bury the carcass, if the pups leave the area maybe they won?t find the food I intend to bring back here, leave for them. I
thought ?Here I go again, throwing my morals into mother nature?s arena where human values don?t belong.?
I left the carcass in the shade of the bush to sustain the pups, keep them off the road. They were wild and spooky, well protected in the brush.
They stood a slim chance against predators, dehydration and starvation if they could get some water, more food. I went to the house and brought back
several small containers of water, dog food, placed it all strategically under the heavy brush. Every day when I returned with more food and water I
could see they (something) had partaken of some of the food, all of the water. On the fifth day the carcass had been carried off ? probably by
vultures, coyotes or tejone, badgers -- some of the food was gone, the water was still in the vessels. No sign of the pups.
Now I keep second-guessing myself about burying the mutt. Probably the outcome is exactly the same, I carry around a little more sadness or some kind
of misplaced guilt because I didn?t bury the poor thing.
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David K
Honored Nomad
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Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
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What you did was very well thought out and humane, IMHO. 
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BajaVida
Senior Nomad
Posts: 541
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Location: Motown, Califas
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Mood: muy cool
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most people would have done nothing--thanks for caring
No se apure y dure.
Don\'t hurry and you\'ll last longer.
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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Osprey
I think you did the right thing. nature can seem cruel sometimes but everything is for a purpose.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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eetdrt88
Senior Nomad
Posts: 986
Registered: 2-20-2005
Location: Az/Ca/Baja
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dogs of baja
last christmas going down to mulege,i spotted the dead dogs on the road quite frequently....but then i saw something that really made me look....just
when we were as far away from civilization as we could be,a dog would come out of the brush on the side of the road......leaving me to wonder how the
hell the dog got there and how was it surviving out there????
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Bruce R Leech
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6796
Registered: 9-20-2004
Location: Ensenada formerly Mulege
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Mood: A lot cooler than Mulege
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| Quote: | Originally posted by eetdrt88
last christmas going down to mulege,i spotted the dead dogs on the road quite frequently....but then i saw something that really made me look....just
when we were as far away from civilization as we could be,a dog would come out of the brush on the side of the road......leaving me to wonder how the
hell the dog got there and how was it surviving out there???? |
Dogs have been surviving without people since way before there were people.
Bruce R Leech
Ensenada
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Perros.....
Unfortunately, surplus dogs in Mexico or Baja don't survive very long...unlike the canines in US, Canada, or Europe. This is an old, old story for
all pet people.
We need more veternarians...like the kind and caring lady vet at the Oasis in Mulege.
I have come across dog skeletons in the desert...tied up with wire lassos to a cactus and left there to die a terrible death. Saw a Baja fishcamp
teenage girl twist the head off a kitten..and stopped the killing of the other 4 by taking them home. Seen countless homeless puppies next to
roadkilled b-tches. Seen what indescriminate poisoning by baits with rat-killer can do to a poor dog. You try to feel some compassion for these
evil-doers and forgive them...but that's damn hard.
But we do what we can with what we have...and hope for some improvements as times change.
Once when a few of us were camped out in the desert southwest of here, I came upon a female puppy who had been clearly abandoned for just a short
time..because she was still alive! She wouldn't quite let me get my hands on her at first..just staying out of reach, but eating and drinking my
offerings. Within a few hours she trusted me to pet her and after that she let it all hang out! Like a sunburst she was exuberant, full of life, and
remained with us constantly. Of course, there never was any doubt but that she would come home with us when we broke camp. My camping companions,
Johnny & Cindy, fell in love with the little tyke, too, and seeing as how they had recently lost thier ship's cat, Cuervo, to a coyote, I presented
them the little orphaned pooch..which they promptly named Panoche (brown sugar)...and then promptly re-named to just plain 'Noche' when they found out
what the slang word, panoche, meant!! Well, that was many a year ago, and
Noche has traveled a fair distance from Baja with them...in loving care. She is in the arms of Cindy and Johnny Tequila at their Lonesome Dove
rancherito near Coyote Bay..see photo. (Almost like the story of Lefty, Killer Caine's pooch..another community-saved dog adopted by a pet-lover)
I love dogs and cats and women...and with that in mind there's an old saying that goes...'Cats and women will do as they please, and dogs and men
should just get used to the idea!'
Here's some of my favorite dogs...including the ones I painted on my duck-truck and decoy-trailer!
( a great short story about that dog-painted rear-end on my duk-truk. That Suburban was a little famous Up North and was called "Two Dogs F.....ing!"
Once in Canada on a goose-hunting trip we were walking out of a local pub and a couple of the local gals were laughing and pointing at my two
painted pooches 'doing their thing'. "Do you like my retrievers?" says I. One of the gals laughingly says back, "Well, one looks more like a
'receiver' than a 'retriever'!"
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Pompano
You try to feel some compassion for these evil-doers and forgive them.
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Why?
People who mistreat animals are the lowest of the low and quite probably, sociopaths.
It's one thing to refuse assistance to abandoned pets, quite another to abuse or abandon them after they become dependent of your care.
In my book there is only ONE thing worse than animal abuse.....Abusing children.
Find one and you'll likely find the other.
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backninedan
Senior Nomad
Posts: 865
Registered: 3-8-2003
Location: Loreto
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Way to go Dave, your right on the money. There is no excuse for animal abuse.
I hear there is going to be an animal shelter here in Loreto, sure hope so, we need it very much.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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Hold up a minute, Dave....I have a special place and part I like to cut when it comes to animal abusers. I think you may have taken a little of my
comment out of context..(you don't work for CNN, do you?)..or maybe I didn't state my attitude strongly enough about animal abusers.
Sharp knife...shrill sound...whimper..silence.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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Dave
Elite Nomad
Posts: 6005
Registered: 11-5-2002
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Pompano
I think you may have taken a little of my comment out of context
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Yeah, sorry. I just don't feel there is any room for Christian charity when it comes to these people. The story about the teenage girl was chilling.
Those kinds of kids can grow up to be serial killers. I probably would have had "words" with her parents.
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BajaVida
Senior Nomad
Posts: 541
Registered: 9-1-2003
Location: Motown, Califas
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Mood: muy cool
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the correct word is "panocha", not "panoche"
if I remember my curse words correctly, but I am out of practice in using them
No se apure y dure.
Don\'t hurry and you\'ll last longer.
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Thanks for the correction, BajaVida...and now that I recollect, it was indeed that pronunciation. Little 'Nocha' is running around in the SW Utah
desert right now, I expect...probably after a tennis ball. Those were great times in the desert with that ball of coyote bait.
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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JESSE
Ultra Nomad
Posts: 3370
Registered: 11-5-2002
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The worst animal abusers are the people that breed and sell animals on the classified ads and corners, theres already plenty of animals in shelters
and on the street, these "breeders" have no shame to mass produce animals knowing full well that many of them will end up on the street starving.
Thank again our glorious stupid and incompetent goverment.
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Price
Nomad
Posts: 168
Registered: 8-29-2003
Location: Las Vegas/San Felipe
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Dogs
We have 6 dogs - only 1 bought - the others saved - all our dogs are cherished - the love they give to us has no price - I cannot understand people
who abuse animals - but what can we do about it ? 6 dogs is our limit - but there has to be something we can do to stop the rampant abuse & negelect
!!!! I think these people should be treated as they treat their animals - but that won't happen - so what can we do ?????????????????????
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Pompano
Elite Nomad
Posts: 8194
Registered: 11-14-2004
Location: Bay of Conception and Up North
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Mood: Optimistic
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Well Price, you have already done it...by using this forum and your voice. It's all about changing attitudes and education.
Getting b-tches spayed, pet adoptions, educating/punishing animal abusers, showing animal abuse to be un-macho and cowardly, etc. etc.
A little at a time....
I do what the voices in my tackle box tell me.
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