January 16, 2009

Fear and terror

Fear in their hearts. Fear in their minds. Fear shown in their eyes.

That was Chocho, when we saw her at the pound. Her eyes bloodshot and popped out. Veins of stark mahogany-red against her chocolate coat. The rays of the morning sun shone on her.

The wire noose tied around her neck. She froze whenever she felt a tug and could only straighten her limbs against the floor to resist being pulled anywhere else, with the fear of the unknown. Where are they going to take me this time?

The officer helped us swap the wire noose with our regular blue leash. Less stressful on the neck.
When he was walking her out of the premises into the carpark, she flung herself around wildly. Her medium-sized body writhed and wrung in mid air with her neck anchored to the pivot of the leash. She darted clumsily left and right, her eyes scanning for the nearest spot of escape or hiding. When the car door opened, our girl dove straight underneath the car seat.

Squished herself in as uncomfortable and compromising a position. Her head in the front and her bottom sticking out. Fear of the unknown. Disoriented. Flustered. Traumatized. Nothing but fear.

For Long Long... it was mere acts of surrender. Shutting the world out of his vision and touch by cowering in a corner behind a cage. He wasn't even shivering. Maybe back then, fear didn't matter anymore and if he was going to die, a mode of submission would have made his death less painful. Soullessness. Resignation. No need to put up a fight, thrown in the towel.

******************************************************************

These are the consequences of culling. Immaterial consequences -- what it does to a perfectly healthy living mammal. Utterly reductive. This is the fear, paranoia, madness, resignation all combined, for animals waiting on deathrow.

For strays taken out of their zones of comfort and familiarity and negated to a state bordering between life and death. These are the horrors of culling.

And it's just the tip of the iceberg.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Helplessly painful to see this.
Where are they going? :(

JK said...

They're bailed out and currently recuperating at a shelter which offers some bit of respite before their next phase of life. Indeedy, it's painful.

Anonymous said...

Thank God! THank you JK.
It took me some courage to open this page again.
:)