As of today,

it has been exactly 1 week since Mama Girl's major surgery on her ruptured diaphragm.

From then -- last Thursday:



till yesterday:



Mama Girl has received all your prayers, well wishes and encouragement and stands before us a testimony of faith and hope. From the night when Dr L thought she may not make it till now, I must say it is quite a miracle, isn't it?

Dr L has given her the OK to be discharged and yesterday morning, we went to pick her up to L's home for foster care till a permanent home surfaces for Mama Girl. L can only care for her till next Tuesday. That is also the day when Mama Girl's stitches will be removed. We really do not wish to leave her back at the farm where accidents and abuse may happen again. Help us look for a really good home for Girl.



On the car ride to L's home, Mama Girl was scanning the scene, not settling down much, think she is thinking of home, of her farm home with her kids and pack. However much we want her to reunite with her pack, the current AVA rulings are a great disadvantage and danger to strays like Mama Girl.

Regardless of whether she is sterilised, microchipped or licenced, the authorities ply the farm areas regularly. And to the dog catchers, I reckon they look at all dogs around the farms as just strays. And as they have done for Ah Boy and Xiao Bai, they will do the same to Mama Girl. They will catch her and bring her back to their pound if they see her 'straying' -- which in their terms mean anything from strolling along the streets to stepping out of a farm gate, which cannot be kept closed during the day for the simple reason that it is a working day.....

IF we bring Mama Girl back to her farm, and IF the AVA team patrols that area, and IF she happens to step beyond her gates to the lane outside her farm, Mama Girl will be caught. And we will then have to pay a fine to bail her out. Or else in a couple of days, Mama Girl will be destroyed by them.

How can we bring Mama Girl back to the farm with this present set of rules and regulations being practised??

Outside L's home, Mama Girl had a long, long pee .... for dogs who are very ill or recovering, any little signs like 'pee' or 'poo' are a great joy to see! :) Cos it shows that their bodies are healing and getting back to normal functions.

She checked out the garden, backyard and made a few attempts to enter the home to rest on the cool tiles. We think she has gotten too used to the clinic cool tiled floor! L prepared an area in the backyard for her to settle down and she was very obliging to these new changes.

Soon after, she eat a small meal and then ... yes she poo-ed! Finally after days of waiting, she finally had a smooth regular elimination of waste. A good sign indeed!

Although we know Mama Girl is well and good now, as I watch her and I see her photos and videos again and again, look at her face, her eyes ... I know that she is wanting to go home to her own pack. Of cos. And no matter how human-friendly she is, we will never be as close to her as she is to her pack. Never.

To see an animal, who is so used to freedom, walking on a leash, although happily and willingly, somehow it still stirs me up inside that we have taken away a little fraction of the FULL JOY OF FREEDOM that they are born with.

Freedom to roam the land. To roll in the dirt. To sleep under the huge gorgeous sky. Freedom of enjoying and enduring the varied weather. Freedom to love and mate and freedom even to fight if they need or choose to.

That complete, indescribable FREEDOM that many of us does not even understand, cos very few of us ever tasted it and even fewer have given another fellow being this gift of freedom wholeheartedly.

Which is why I think many of us love the great outdoors, love the rugged wilderness and the animals who live in it, love the thrill of diving the depths, trekking the high mountains, love our strays on the streets -- cos deep within, we are looking for a taste of this FREEDOM that is so clearly felt and seen among animals who live free.

Everything being done now to destroy nature, the environment, destroy animals without homes - all this merely takes away from himself the very gift of freedom that man so desire. And till man learns to respect the freedom each sentient being is born with, he himself will never have a taste of it.

If you want to live free, give others back to themselves. Loosen your grip on things, on people. Let go of the fear of getting hurt. No one can hurt you unless you permit them to. The Spirit of Freedom is yours, within you. Always has been.

And the more we awaken to the truth that we are free, the more we will be able to accord all living beings their freedom to live. In peace.

At this moment, Mama Girl is not free to live her life back at the farm for there are people out there who will destroy her free life. And for this reason, we cannot bring her back there.