In the opening paragraph of "Man Meets Dog",

Konrad Lorenz (1954) makes the following statement:

"Today for breakfast I ate some fried bread and sausage. Both the sausage and the lard that the bread was fried in came from a pig that I used to know as a dear little piglet. Once that stage was over, to save my conscience from conflict, I meticulously avoided any further acquaintance with that pig."

This casual observation actually contains 2 very important theoretical ideas:
(a) people find it difficult to eat or mistreat animals they have developed any sort of attachment for, and
(b) if one finds it ultimately necessary to eat or mistreat an animal, it is sensible to tske active steps to avoid becoming too attached to it beforehand.

[Taken from "Best Friend or Worst Enemy: Cross Cultural Variation in Attitudes to the Domestic Dogs - James A Serpell]

I guess this is the only way for some people to deal with the things they do - avoid any acquaintance with the animal that they are going to mistreat, or going to destroy. Any other way will surely kill the spirit and conscience of a normal man. And no one can live for long a peaceful life with a crushed conscience.

For what you come to know, you will never destroy.

It may seem futile fighting little bush fires like this, bailing out one single dog like Xiao Bai, who is a pin prick in the sea of strays. Whose life or death won't change the current landscape one wee bit.

However, NOT saving him amounts to agreeing with the present animal control methods that seem to focus solely on culling on the grounds, with no aid and no plans for a capture-sterilise-release programme.

That there is nothing wrong in what was done yesterday - and will continue to be done - for the violation of a regulation they seem to adhere so strictly to: All dogs found straying can be caught and culled.

How I wish to see this same passion in their checks on our many breeding farms. Or are we waiting for yet another undercover mission to expose the horrors of puppy mills out there, smelling so awfully right under our noses? What will we discover next?

Tomorrow we will pay the fine of $231 to bail Xiao Bai out.

We could have gotten 2 more dogs sterilised with that amount. Now, won't that be a better way to spend public funds?