Thursday, January 27, 2005

The News from Tan, the Tsunami Doggy Survivor

I received an email from another canine, Tan the Tsunami Survivor, who lives in Phuket, Thailand. I am so happy my donation is helping Tan get food and water and shelter. I begged Mom to adopt Tan but she says than monetary donations are what the doggies need the most right now. So, to all of my loyal readers, I beg you, with paws up, tail wagging & tongue drooling, to please make a donation to the Human Society International of Asia.

Here's Tan's email complete with a photo!


Tan the Tsusami Survivor, in Phuket, Thailand Posted by Hello

Dear Sam,

My Name is Tan and I live, or use to live, along the Patong River near Phuket, Thailand. Now my family is gone, my house is gone and most of my doggie friends are gone. A big wall of water came crashing through my little village one day and my whole life changed. I got carried up into the trees far away and almost drowned. Then another wave came in and I was carried even farther. I don’t know how I made it. I got bounced around and went under several times. I thought for sure that I was going to die. But I ended in the trees bruised and cut.

When I recovered I tried to get back to the village, but there was water, ruble, wood and broken trees all around. I was cold and wet. It was horrible. There were dead humans and animals all around – goats and even a cow. Then I saw my best dog friend dead on top of what use to be a door. I smelled him just to make sure – it was him. I smelled death all around me – like I had never smelled it before. More bodies of humans and more animals. I finally found my house. I couldn’t tell by looking at it, but I knew it when I found it, because I could still smell some familiar scents. But there was nothing left. It was torn down to the ground.

I waited and waited to see if my family would come. I slept there for two days and nights waiting and waiting. But no one came – no one came. I was scared and hungry and rummaged around through the ruble and followed the scent of death. I found a dead chicken and ate it. By this time, several other dogs started to wonder around all looking for food. Some of them even tried to eat some of the human bodies, but other humans chased them away. It was horrible. I was scared and kept close to my old house since it was the only thing that was familiar to me. But soon I had to leave because I could not find any food nearby.


But everywhere I went it was all the same – destruction, death and despair. And whenever I would find food, I would try to hide it, because other dogs would come around and start fighting over it and I would be chased away. There was a lot of fighting going on.

I was hungry all of the time – scared, lonely and depressed. There were a few humans around, picking through the ruble, looking for things and occasionally finding and removing a dead human. None of them would give me food and they chased me away and threw rocks at me. I think they were hungry also.

I ended up down at the beach. There use to be a lot of restaurants down there and there was still a lot of rotting food around. It was awful stuff and made me sick.

Then one day, I was walking along the beach and saw this human who was wearing a yellow shirt. He seemed to be offering me some food so I cautiously approached. Then suddenly out of nowhere a net came down on top of me and I was trapped. I was really scared and angry and tried to bite him but he had me firmly in his net. Next thing I knew he stuck a needle in me and I went to sleep.

When I woke up I was feeling really dizzy and I couldn’t walk. So I just laid there and watched these humans bring in all of these other dogs and stick needles in them, do something with them on a table and then lay them on the ground next to me. After awhile I felt better and was able to stand and they gave me some food and water. Real dog food. Even better then what I had in the village.

I’m still living on the beach, but now the humans in yellow shirts come around once a day and give us all food. I feel a lot better and there is less fighting among the other dogs. I still miss my family and my old doggie friends, but at least I’m not hungry all of the time and not sick.

I guess my life has changed forever. But I have new human friends now and maybe things will work out. At least I have hope for the future.

I’m writing you to say how thankful I am for you supporting those guys in the yellow shirts who helped me and my new doggie friends. We all appreciate your help. Keep up the good work.

- Tan

With a little help from:
- Ken Grant
HSI Asia (Bali, Indonesia)
Humane Society International
Mobile: +62 812 465 0171
Ken@HSIAsia.org
http://www.hsiasia.org/
Yahoo
Chat: KAGrant@yahoo.com

1 Comments:

At 10:49 AM, Blogger Sam the black GSD barked...

Hi Linus,

Thanks for your comments. I'm sure the humane society in Phuket is helping cats too!

I am warming up to my family's cats. They are kind of cute actually. Especially the ancient one without a nose. I may even start a couple more blogrolls -- one for "cats who love dogs" and one for "dogs who love cats". Hmmmm...the word "love" is kind of ambiguous. Maybe "who are friends with" would be a better choice of words.

Sammy

 

Post a Comment

<< Home