19/02/2021
Pak Mie and Mak Intan's sHELLter - where the dogs are so hungry, they eat the cats. And not because they lacked money...
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Shelter Neraka Pak Mie dan Mak Intan - di mana anjing lapar sampai makan kucing. Dan bukan sebab pemilik mereka tak cukup duit...
(Versi BM di bawah.)
ARE YOU GOING TO LET THEM GET AWAY WITH MURDER??
February 16, 2013 - my first day volunteering there. I was sweeping up dog faeces and filling water bowls in the main area. I had not ventured into the adjacent enclosure which contained about 60 cats and 40-50 dogs. Every ten minutes, there would be an uproar from that area - dogs barking frenziedly. I thought they were just fighting to be alpha dog or fighting over territory as it was so crowded. Pak Mie and Mak Intan were sitting at the front of the entrance, talking to visitors. They paid no attention whatsoever to the barking, so I also shrugged it off and went on with my work.
This every-10-minute frenzy went on for a while. Then the frenzy escalated. I looked to see if Mak Intan was going to go in and tell them to shut up. She and Pak Mie were still entertaining the visitors and paid the dogs no heed, so I didn’t either. I thought it must be normal since they were not bothered by it at all. After five minutes, the frenzied barking started up again and it was getting really annoying. I took a peek through the darkly-tinted glass door. A group of almost full-grown puppies were chasing a grey furball around. The cat crouched down and hissed at them. I thought they should be fine. After all, they had all grown up together. Then the cat managed to run a few feet and got near a table. The pack of 30 or so dogs followed him, barking at fever pitch now. I thought, "Jump on the table! Come on, jump!" I didn't want to intervene because I thought he needed to learn how to defend himself. How naive - he couldn’t jump because that would mean turning his back on the dogs. As I watched, the cat was still crouching and hissing when a dog grabbed him and tossed him up into the air. The cat flipped over in several somersaults. OMG, that was not good.. When he landed, the whole pack fell upon him, barking like crazy.
I waded in to intervene. I hoped against hope that the cat was ok. The dogs took turns to grab him in their jaws and shake him like crazy from side to side, before another one grabbed him and ran off with him. They fought over the cat in a total frenzy. It was like in the cartoons, fur flying. I shouted at them. A few at the outer edges backed off. The rest didn’t even hear me. I kicked out my leg at some, a few more left. Those in the middle were completely berserk and would not let go. I didn't want to lose a hand to them, so I grabbed a food plate and swung it at them. I was also a bit afraid that they would turn on me instead. Can I fight off 30-40 dogs? Well, I'll deal with it as it comes. They still would not let go of the cat in their jaws and it took many bangs to their heads, and even then, they kept trying to get back in and sn**ch the cat.
Finally, all the dogs cleared off and stood in a circle eyeing the cat and me. I sn**ched up the cat. He was completely limp. I hoped that he wasn’t dead. He was bleeding from behind the ear, but he was just really unnaturally limp. I thought his neck might have been broken cos he was limp as a wet rag. No muscle tone at all. I placed him on the table, and within seconds, his body became cooler. Within minutes, it was stiff. OMG, he's dead! Nooo!!! He died because of me! Because I stood there and did nothing!! I geniusly decided to let him "defend himself"! OMG... I was wracked with guilt and horror.
I went out to get Mak Intan. Throughout this whole melee, they didn't even bat an eyelid. Didn't even stand up to see what was going on. She was still chatting to the guests as there was somebody else doing all the work (me). She came in with me and looked at the cat and said, “Ya Allah.. how did he get out?" I said, what do you mean get out? He was still inside the room. (Some cats were in cages, some were freely roaming.) She said that kittens were locked in cages until they are old enough to handle the dogs. The older ones were all sitting on the stack of cages or on the table. A few brave souls were on the ground near or behind the cages. I suppose they had to come down to do their business.
This kitten had never been out before. He had somehow broken out and his first venture turned out to be his last. This was the first time he has been out of prison and his first experience of walking. He's almost full-grown and he had never walked before in his life! So he was testing out his legs for the first time. He must not have taken many steps before the dogs pounced on him. Imagine the terror he felt at his last moment, 30 faces barking at him before he was sn**ched up in their jaws. I was just so shocked and horrified. Want to cry also cannot. But Mak Intan was completely unperturbed. She calmly took a few sheets of newspaper and proceeded to methodically wrap up the body like a packet of nasi lemak. Then she left it there and went back to her conversation. I looked at her complete lack of shock and cool manner and how practised she was at wrapping up that body, and I realised... she had done this many times before. This cat-eating business was a common occurrence! OMG...
The following weekend I was there, there was again that frenzied barking, this time from an almost full-grown puppy inside a cage. He was pawing frantically at the ground under his cage. (No plastic tray under the cage, everything goes into the soil.) I went to see. There was a newborn kitten there which was born so recently that it was still scrunched up like a durian seed. The dog kept scratching at him while barking and whining frenziedly. I wondered how the kitten could've gotten there. He didn't even have his feet unfurled yet, he couldn't have walked there. I looked around and two cages away, there was a small mother cat with another 'durian seed' on the wire floor of the cage. The mother cat was so skinny that I couldn't even imagine how she could be pregnant, and here she was, squeezing out a third one! She had no bump, no swollen teats, nothing. You could see her shoulder bones. There was no way this litter would survive, the mother didn't even have enough food for herself. I had half a mind to get the kitten out from under the cage and feed it to the dog right there and then, to end its suffering and to alleviate the dog's hunger. In the end, I couldn't do it. Like a coward, I went to get Mak Intan, and she returned the kitten to its mother. She said, "Ya Allah... I didn't even know she was pregnant." Er, leaving unneutered cats together, what were you expecting, golden eggs? I felt so bad for the kitten, now it's going to have to suffer for several more days until it dies of starvation.
A few weeks later, I was cleaning in the cats’ room again when a puppy came and started this frenzied barking again, this time at a full-grown cat. I recognised this bark now, it is high-pitched and crazy excited, different from the usual “Hey, do you have food for me?” bark. Another dog joined the first one and they were both now starting to get frenzied. Not again. The cat was backed up against a cage. I watched him and waited for him to squeeze himself into a space between the cages, but he didn’t. I guess he couldn’t take his eyes off the dogs to see what was behind. He crouched down and hissed at them. The dogs went on with their frenzied barking, and a third dog came to join them. Alright, enough. Not going to let the cat "defend himself" this time. I stomped at the dogs and shooed them off. The cat gratefully ran back into the space between the cages. After the dogs were gone, I wanted to take the cat out and put him back up on top of the stack of cages so that he would be safe there. I also knew that with any normal cat, if I had just reached in then, my hand would've been shredded! So I called him. He came forward and and sniffed my hand, no fear. Wah! I scratched him on the chin, he liked it. I picked him up, and he completely melted in my arms. This is not the normal reaction of a cat which just had an encounter with two dogs! This cat has had it happen to him many times, and he knew that humans are his saviours. I did not like that thought.
March 15, 2013 - another volunteer organised a cleanup drive. A girl who was the first one there in the morning at like 7.30 went into the cats' enclosure. She found a cat's head on the ground. She picked it up with some newspaper and took it out to show Pak Mie and Mak Intan. I asked her, "What was their reaction?" She said, "Nothing." No surprise, no shock whatsoever. What did they say? "Nothing." Wow, so finding cat heads first thing in the morning is also a common occurrence? No shock, no surprise whatsoever. The volunteer took the cat's head and put it out back with the pile of dead puppies and kittens collected that morning. The cat had been eaten by the dogs. Only the head was left because the skull was too hard and too big to be eaten. I suppose smaller kittens would be eaten in one gulp.
In the pic above, this is the first kitten that had his neck broken. His tail had already been eaten and the smell of blood was what was driving the dogs crazy. Look at the amount of saliva on the coat. This was not just nipping - this was eating. The dogs were salivating heavily after tasting blood.
I don't understand why people keep saying that it's better for the animals to live at Pak Mie's place than on the streets. If this cat had lived on the streets, he could’ve at least run away or climbed up a tree or table. There would never have been 30-40 dogs attacking him simultaneously. But in Pak Mie’s hell, the policy is “Eat or be eaten.” And the cats always lose.
Pak Mie and Mak Intan's negligence is what caused this cat (and many others) to suffer such horrific ends. I dare not think how many have died this way over the years, if this was a daily event. After the first incident, I told them to move the dogs out (there was plenty of space in other sections) and they said ya ya ya but they never did anything. The following week, seeing that the dogs were still in there, I offered to move them but Mak Intan said no. They just don't care because people will keep bringing new cats and no-one would notice that there were any less. Besides, cats are not the ones making them money.
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16 Februari 2013 - hari pertama saya menjadi s**arelawan di sana. Saya menyapu taik anjing dan mengisi mangkuk air di kandang utama. Saya tidak masuk ke kandang di sebelah yang mengandungi sekitar 60 ekor kucing dan 40 ekor anjing. Setiap sepuluh minit, anjing di sana akan menyalak macam gila. Saya ingat mereka just bergaduh biasa2 atau berebut makan. Pak Mie dan Mak Intan sedang duduk di depan pintu masuk, bercakap dengan pengunjung. Mereka tidak menghiraukan salakan itu, jadi saya pun tak kisah.
Bunyi menyalak macam gila ini berlaku setiap 10 minit. Kemudian kegilaan itu meningkat. Saya melihat adakah Mak Intan akan masuk dan suruh mereka diam. Dia dan Pak Mie masih melayan pengunjung dan tidak menghiraukan mereka, jadi saya pun tak hiraukan. Saya ingat ini mesti perkara biasas sebab mereka langsung tak hirau macam dia biasa. Setelah 5 minit, salakan gila bermula balik dan ia benar-benar menjengkelkan. Saya cuba lihat melalui pintu kaca yg berwarna gelap. Sekumpulan anjing remaja mengejar satu bola kelabu. Kucing itu meringkuk dan mendesis kepada mereka. Saya fikir mereka mesti ok jer sebab dah lama membesar bersama-sama. Kemudian kucing itu berjaya berlari dekat sebuat meja. Sebanyak 30 ekor anjing mengikutnya, menyalak macam gila. Saya fikir, "Lompat ke atas meja! Lompat!" Saya tak mahu masuk campur sebab saya fikir kucing itu perlu belajar mempertahankan diri. Betapa bodohnya aku... Dia tidak dapat melompat kerana dia sedang menghadap anjing2 itu. Untuk melompat, dia kena pusing ke belakang dahulu, dan ini bermaksud dia tak boleh nampak apa yg anjing2 akan buat.
Kucing itu masih meringkuk dan mendesis apabila tiba2 seekor anjing menggigit dan melemparkannya ke udara. Kucing itu berpusing-pusing di udara. OMG, this is not good... Sebaik saja dia jatuh ke tanah, kesemua anjing menerkam dia sambil menyalak macam gila.
Saya terpaksa masuk campurtangan. Saya harap kucing itu ok. Anjing-anjing itu bergilir-gilir mengongkongnya di mulut dan menggoncang dia, sebelum anjing lain merampas kucing itu dan berlari bersamanya. Mereka berebut gigit kucing itu macam gila. Saya menjerit untuk meleraikan mereka. Sebilangan kecil di luar lalu ke tepi. Selebihnya tidak menghiraukan saya. Saya menendang beberapa ekor, beberapa ekor lagi beredar. Mereka yang berada di tengah benar-benar sudah gila dan tidak mahu melepaskan kucing itu. Saya tidak mahu kehilangan tangan saya kepada mereka, jadi saya ambik sebuah pinggan dan pukul mereka. Saya juga takut kalau mereka akan pusing menggigit saya. Bolehkah saya melawan 30-40 ekor anjing? Mereka masih tidak mahu melepaskan kucing itu. Saya pukul kepala mereka dengan pinggan itu. Mereka melepaskan kucing itu, tapi masih cuba merebut kucing itu.
Akhirnya, semua anjing berlalu ke tepi dan berdiri di dalam satu bulatan memerhatikan kucing dan saya. Saya ambik kucing itu. Dia lembik saja. Saya harap dia tidak mati. Dia berdarah dari belakang telinga, tetapi dia betul-betul lembik. Saya fikir mungkin lehernya sudah patah sebab dia lembik sangat. Saya letak dia di atas meja, dan dalam beberapa saat, tubuhnya menjadi lebih sejuk. Dalam beberapa minit, ia menjadi kaku. OMG, dia sudah mati! Nooo!!! Dia mati kerana saya! Sebab saya tercegat di sana dan tak buat apa-apa!! Saya yang begitu pandai fikir “Biar dia cuba membela diri.” OMG... Saya dilanda rasa bersalah dan ngeri...
Saya keluar panggil Mak Intan. Sepanjang huru-hara ini, mereka tak hiraukan langsung apa yg berlaku. Tak toleh tengok pun. Mereka masih sembang dengan tetamu kerana ada kuli (saya) yang buat semua kerja. Mak Intan masuk ikut saya dan melihat kucing itu dan berkata, "Ya Allah... Macam mana dia keluar?" Saya kata, maksud apa dia keluar? Dia masih di dalam bilik. (Beberapa kucing ada di dalam sangkar, ada yang bebas.) Mak Intan kata anak kucing dikurung di dalam sangkar sehingga mereka cukup besar untuk menghadap anjing. Yang lebih besar semua duduk di atas sangkar atau di atas meja. Beberapa kucing yang berani berada di tanah. Saya rasa mereka turun untuk kencing atau berak.
Anak kucing ini tidak pernah keluar sebelum ini. Entah macam mana dia berjaya keluar dan kali pertama ternyata menjadi kali terakhir. Ini adalah kali pertama dia keluar dari penjara dan pengalaman pertama dia berjalan. Dia hampir dewasa dan dia tak pernah berjalan sebelum ini sebab dia duduk di dalam sangkar seumur hidup. Dia baru nak menguji kakinya untuk kali pertama. Dia pasti tidak mengambil banyak langkah sebelum anjing menerkamnya. Bayangkan ketakutan yang dia rasakan pada saat terakhirnya, 30 wajah yg menyalak macam gila sebelum dia digigit di rahang mereka dan dibaling macam bola. (Tujuan membaling dan menggoncang adalah untuk patahkan tulang belakang dia.) Saya terkejut sampai kaku. Nak menangis pun tak boleh. Tapi Mak Intan cool jer. Dia dengan tenang mengambil suratkhabar dan membungkus jasad anak kucing itu macam membungkus nasi lemak. Kemudian dia letak di tepi dan kembali ke berborak dengan pengunjung.
Saya tengok dia tak ada emosi apa2, tak ada terkejut atau sedih, dia tenang dan cool saja, dengan selamba dia membungkus jasad itu, dan saya sedar... dia sudah biasa dan telah buat benda ini banyak kali sebelum ini. Hal anjing makan kucing ini adalah kejadian biasa di sana!!! OMG...
Pada hujung minggu berikutnya, sekali lagi anjing menyalak macam gila. Kali ini dari seekor anjing remaja yang berada di dalam sangkar. Dia mencakar macam gila sesuatu yg berada di bawah sangkarnya. Di bawah sangkar itu tak ada tray plastik, sangkar diletakkan terus di atas tanah. Saya pi tengok. Ada seekor anak kucing di sana yang baru dilahirkan. Ia kecik macam biji durian. Anjing itu cuba mencakar dan menggigitnya sambil buat bunyi excited macam gila. Macam mana anak kucing itu boleh sampai di sana... Dia masih bulat seperti baru saja lahir, macam mana dia boleh bergerak ke sana... Saya tengok sekeliling dan di dalam dua sangkar dari sana, ada seekor ibu kucing kecil dengan sebiji lagi 'biji durian' yang lain di lantai sangkarnya. Ibu kucing itu kurus sampai saya tak dapat membayangkan macam mana dia boleh hamil, dan tudia... dia sedang memberanakkan anak yang ketiga! Perut dia tak kembung, tetek dia tak bengkak, saya boleh nampak tulang bahunya sebab dia kurus sampai tak ada daging. No way anak dia boleh hidup, ibu pun tak cukup makanan untuk diri sendiri, tetek pun tak ada susu. Saya terasa nak ambik anak kucing dari bawah sangkar itu dan bagi anjing itu makan saja. Tak payah lah menderita dan mati kelaparan. Akhirnya, saya tak boleh buat. Seperti seorang pengecut, saya pergi panggil Mak Intan dan dia letak balik anak kucing itu kat ibunya. Dia berkata, "Ya Allah... aku tak tau pun dia hamil." Er, dia bagi campur kucing jantan dan betina yg tak dimandulkan, apa yg dia ingat akan keluar, telur emas?? Saya berasa sedih untuk anak kucing itu, sekarang dia kena menderita beberapa hari lagi sampai mati kelaparan.
Beberapa minggu kemudian, sedang saya membersihkan bilik kucing, sekali lagi ketika seekor anak anjing datang dan mula menyalak macam gila, kali ini pada seekor kucing dewasa. Saya dah kenal bunyi salakan ini - ia bernada tinggi dan sangat excited. Seekor lagi anjing datang dan mereka berdua menyalak dengan gila. Oh no, not again... Kucing itu berada di depan sangkar. Saya memerhatikannya dan harap ia akan mengundur masuk ruang di antara dua sangkar, tapi dia tak berganjak. Mungkin dia tak boleh mengalihkan pandangan dari anjing untuk melihat apa yang ada di belakangnya. Dia meringkuk dan mendesis kat mereka. Anjing-anjing itu terus menyalak, dan anjing ketiga datang untuk join. Eh, cukuplah!! Saya tak akan membiarkan kucing membela diri kali ini. Saya menghentak kaki saya kat anjing-anjing itu dan menghalau mereka. Kucing itu dengan bersyukur berlari kembali ke ruang antara sangkar. Setelah anjing-anjing itu beredar, saya nak bawa kucing itu keluar dan letak dia balik di atas sangkar (ada 3 tingkat) supaya dia selamat di sana.
Saya tahu kalau dengan kucing, kalau saya hulur tangan pada masa itu (masa dia masih panik), pasti tangan saya akan hancur dicakar. Oleh itu, saya panggil dia keluar. Dia jalan keluar dan datang meraba tangan saya tanpa rasa takut. Wah! Saya menggaru dagu dia, dia s**a. Saya angkat dia naik dan dia relax sepenuhnya di dalam pelukan saya. Ini bukan reaksi biasa kucing yang baru sahaja diserang dua ekor anjing! Benda ini dah terjadi banyak kali kepada kucing ini, sampai dia dah tak panik dan tahu bahawa manusia adalah penyelamatnya, sebab tu dia tak cakar saya dan dia terus relax bila saya pegang dia. Saya rasa tak sedap hati memikirkan ini.
15 Mac 2013 – kami volunteer buat gotong-royong besar2an. Seorang perempuan yang pertama sampai pada 7.30 pagi masuk ke kandang kucing. Dia terjumpa sebiji kepala kucing di atas tanah. Dia gunakan suratkhabar untuk ambik kepala ini dan bawa keluar untuk tunjuk kat Pak Mie dan Mak Intan. Saya tanya dia, "Apa reaksi mereka?" Dia kata, "Tak ada apa." Tidak terkejut, tak ada reaksi apa2. Apa yang mereka kata? "Tak kata apa." Wow, jadi menjumpai kepala kucing pada waktu pagi juga merupakan kejadian biasa? Tidak ada terkejut langsung, selamba saja. Sukarelawan itu mengambil kepala kucing itu dan meletakkannya dengan timbunan mayat anak anjing dan anak kucing yang terkumpul pagi itu. Kucing itu telah dimakan oleh anjing. Hanya kepala dia yang tinggal kerana tengkorak terlalu keras dan terlalu besar untuk dimakan. Saya rasa anak kucing yang lebih kecil pasti ditelan kesemuanya.
Gambar di atas menunjukkan anak kucing pertama yang lehernya patah. Ekornya sudah dimakan dan bau darah itu lah yang membuat anjing-anjing itu gila. Lihat betapa banyaknya air liur ada pada bulu dia. Ini bukan gigit main-main atau gigit agresif - ini adalah makan. Anjing-anjing itu banyak terliur sebab telah merasa darah. Lama dah tak makan daging, tiap hari makan nasi kosong dengan lemak ayam saja (tak ada daging). Macam mana tak lapar. Patut lah sana tak pernah nampak tikus walaupun kotor.
Saya tak faham kenapa orang selalu kata lebih baik haiwan tinggal di neraka Pak Mie daripada tinggal di jalanan. Kalau kucing ini tinggal di jalanan, dia boleh melarikan diri atau memanjat pokok atau meja. Tak akan ada 30-40 anjing menyerangnya serentak. Tetapi di neraka Pak Mie, polisinya adalah "Makan atau dimakan." Dan kucing selalu kalah.
Pak Mie dan Mak Intan adalah sebab kenapa kucing ini (dan banyak lagi) terpaksa mati dalam keadaan yg begitu ngeri. Shelter apa yg kucingnya dimakan anjing... Saya tak berani fikir berapa banyak yang telah mati dimakan selama ini, kalau ini adalah kejadian harian. Selepas kejadian pertama, saya suruh mereka pindahkan anjing-anjing itu ke kandang lain (terdapat banyak ruang di bahagian lain) dan mereka kata ya, ya, ya, tetapi mereka tak buat apa. Minggu berikutnya, memandangkan anjing2 itu masih ada di sana, saya menawarkan khidmat untuk memindahkan mereka tetapi Mak Intan tak bagi.
Mereka tidak peduli kerana orangramai akan terus membuang kucing baru di sana, dan tak ada siapa yang akan sedar bahawa ada kucing yang sudah hilang sebab bilangan kucing kian bertambah. Anyway, kucing bukan penjana pendapatan yg lumayan untuk mereka, jadi mereka peduli apa...
