Subsequent Events This Week: Wanwan Survived

On Friday, I was able to bring Wanwan home after tests showed his phosphorus levels had returned to normal. Whilst at the vet's from Tuesday night onwards he didn't eat, except for a small amount of cheap canned meat on Thursday which the vet provided, but which he had to take from my hand rather than the bowl. He was understandably listless on Friday, but I've been feeding him a little more than his usual share of chicken so his energy should come back soon hopefully. I'm also hoping he hasn't suffered any kind of brain damage and so far there are no obvious signs of that.

One thing I neglected to mention in the last post was that I myself went to hospital on Wednesday afternoon after bringing Shao Bai's dead body back home. I had an X-ray done on my right fist to check it wasn't broken. It's not, and the swelling is starting to come down now*.

From Thursday onwards I have been taking the dogs to the little park at the back of my house instead of the big park where Shao Bai and Wanwan were poisoned. My many friends at the original park have been in frequent contact and have told me that another six dogs have been poisoned as well as numerous squirrels and birds. The tests on the dogs revealed the same poisoning: phosphorus. So after his public humiliation on Wednesday afternoon, the culprit must have returned on Thursday and just caked one half of the park in agricultural pesticide. Whilst the other dog owner's thoughts have been about the police and trying to collect evidence and so on (which I regard as futile for several reasons I have already pointed out to them [and without reply]), my own thoughts have been about practical prevention rather than legal retaliation; neither I nor the innocent animals he poisons have got time for the uncertain and in any case unlikely event of government "protection".

My first thoughts about this I must refrain from publishing. In addition, as already mentioned, I'm avoiding the original park when walking my other dogs. I've also tried muzzling them to better prevent them eating things off the ground, but so far they won't take to the muzzles; Coco just ripped his off with ease. A number of people have advised me to use leads. I don't want to use leads. When I started walking the first of my six dogs, Tinkerbell, I used to have her on the lead to ride the scooter until we came to the park where I would let her loose to run around as much as she liked with the other dogs for exercise. Since I adopted all of the dogs that were later thrown away at the park as puppies, I haven't needed to use leads. They grew up at the park in a semi-wild state without ever being leashed, unlike Tinkerbell. Instead they learned to respond to my calls and commands. When I caught Shao Bai eating the poisoned cookie on Tuesday morning, he stopped eating after I told him to leave it (too late of course). We all got by splendidly, bondage free, for three years.

Nevertheless, I may reluctantly consider it.

One noteworthy thing about this week has been the fact that I have had relatively little time to myself to grieve over Shao Bai. Work and other necessities and problems don't get resolved by themselves, and I haven't been able to eat properly since Monday. I'm very tired and although I got up at 5am this morning to see a friend off at the start of her half-marathon, I immediately drove back home and slept until 1.30pm. I haven't slept that much for a long, long time.

*This is just as well, as I haven't been able to write and handling things with my right hand (e.g. the accelerator and front brake handle on my bikes) was difficult.