With respect to our eight

dogs subject to physical hazards from the sealing-off, several people have stepped forth to offer their help and sounded out to us that if need be, they can chip in to fund for the dogs' migration to another refuge -- temporary or permanent.

A few hours ago, an elderly worker on the land informed water supplies have been cut off and tenants are gradually moving out of the plot, even though the contract is good until year end. V also updated that a worker whom she's been paying to keep watch and help her feed our dogs has left.

What we foresee is that the authorities could move in anytime.

A few weeks ago, a long-time tenant assured that nothing will happen until year end. Now, the the stopping of water supplies and the disappearance of others tenants.

We are only THANKFUL for the positive responses we have got so far; nothing at this juncture beats a supportive network of armchair believers, as well as the heroic few who go grassroots with our street animals everyday.

Stretched...but fulfilling, for this is what keeps us ALIVE, to feel our hearts race for challenges to come, to feel we're able to get up and do something about it, to be on the move, to respond, act, breathe and see. See for ourselves the possiblities of life, witness the fallen earth, but yet experience grace in turmoil, peace in chaos.

We are in no way a registered society, nor do we endeavour to establish ourselves as one. While I have turned into a full-time employee in the corporate world, my counterpart is a potential full-fledged vet student. The few pals we rope in every now and then are working professionals who lend their time to help out and in the midst of it all, like us, find solace in doing something meaningful.

Animal welfare.

When we decide to personally know a stray puppy or bring a cat back home to nurse, we cast our faith in a world of possibilities. Same thing when like-minded individuals hear our stories and chip in with their donations, they cast their faith. Faith.

Because we are by no means a registered society, we are unable to issue any official receipt. Donors could or would usually either send cheques to our mailing address, or do a fund transfer to either of our personal bank accounts.

In return, we show the donors actual receipts, itemizing expenditures of pet transport, veterinary fees or food supplies, to account to them where their money has gone to, and if possible, a couple of pictures of the street animal in question.

This constant flux of paperwork and communications derails us from our work, but gladly, they are the encouragement that keeps us going in sometimes uphill-ish battles.

We can't do this by ourselves, and we share our experiences of straywork with whoever's out there with the heart to hear us, and to educate. There are no measurable outcomes, maybe there need not be any, but if writing a post means embedding a fraction of the message into the psyche of one more person, it is worth it.

V keeps telling me to move out of country and cautions against getting emotionally embroiled in individual animals, like herself. Softness of heart weakens the continuity of straywork. And as a veteran in the animal welfare circle, her nuggets of wisdom shed light, sometimes just too clearly, on the obstacles stemmed from human pride, scepticism and irrationality.

Continually, I step back and look at the bigger picture, the greater scheme of things to enact make-or-break decisions for the animals. It is a tough passion.

There are sometimes no hard-and-fast rules to saving an animal. Sometimes, a balance of objectivity and emotions; a melange of tacit and explicit knowledge; a combination of precision and intuition.

Does the trick.