This
is a real-life story, which I had to unfortunately witness.
There
is a boy in a village who is very fond of animals and pets. Once he brought a
small white pup from somewhere distant. The bitches who give birth to pups
often produce 4-5 offspring at a time; so, he must have just picked one while
she was not around and brought the baby to his home. His village home was very
spacious, with ample land in the front as well as around the house. Plus, he
had several milk-giving cows being reared in front of house. With his loving
care and a very safe and friendly environment, the puppy found its footing. But
it was really ‘alone’ and the boy noticed that. Next day, he brought another
pup, a black one. He kept it along with the white pup. Now, the puppies had got
a company of each other!
The
two puppies became apple of eye for everyone. For whole day, they used to play
various games with each other. Since the white pup was a bit older and bigger,
it used to prod the black pup a lot. They quickly learnt the ‘spy game’ and
started sniffing and moving around. Small kids from nearby places used to come
to see and play with these pups. The little black pup tried to play with the
kids by trying to lick their fingers or hand. The pups learnt to recognize and
respond to the boy and his family members. During winter, the puppies used to sleep
near the ash pile of bonfire for hours. Once some grownup dogs visited the area
and the little black pup was seen cozying up to another bigger black dog, which
did not show any affection towards it. It seemed that the two pups were not to
be adopted again and were fated to be together for a long time to come. Alas,
even this was not to be true.
One
morning, everyone was shocked to know that both pups were dead. What had transpired
intrigued everyone. The boy had got some sort of insecticide or chemical
sprayed on the grass in front of his house to scare away the birds who used to
visit there and spoil the grains which were being dealt there. The person responsible
for spraying the chemical had sprayed a heavy dose and hence a pigeon died
after eating poisonous substance. The two little pups, by now well versed in
eating miscellaneous things, but devoid of any parental guidance or training,
had collected the dead bird and feasted on it, thereby poisoning themselves. When
the boy saw them in this condition, he immediately rushed them to a nearby veterinary
doctor who gave some medicine but could not save the pups. The two pups were
cremated together.
These
events which happened so quickly within a month or so appear so tragic that in
another world of dogs this could be a plot of a blockbuster movie. On a serious
note, I felt sorry for the little pups and hope that they are doing well in
their next lives, wherever they are.
-
Rahul Tiwary
