Another Day - Another Rescue - or am I just trying to save myself?

in #palnet4 years ago

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Right, so after some serious introspection, I have come to the conclusion that I might have a problem...

I am not quite sure if this stems from me missing my life on the farm, or if this is simply what happens if you put a small town farm girl in the big city, one thing that I have come to realize though is that my heart is definitely to soft for this place. And I think that I have reached a point where I have to admit that I might have a problem...

It all started when...

I came across a small kitten a while ago, and found myself in a position where I simply HAD to save the poor little thing. Ok in my defence the little creature was in the process of being stoned by a bunch of screwed up people clinging on to stupid cultural beliefs - but long story short, the kitten ended up in a happy home, and I was left thinking that I really need to stop dragging home animals that I am really in no position to try and help right now.

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However, it was not too long after that, that I passed a shop while doing my rounds, and came across a man standing with a tiny puppy in a plastic shopping packet, the man approached me and said that they have no food, he was trying to sell the puppy in order to buy food for the house...

At first I thought to myself that I would just buy him some food and food for the dog and then move on my merry way - however after seeing the state of the puppy riddled with worms fleas and sores, I realized that the food would only go that far. Needless to say, I ended up walking away with a puppy.

Now I am not to sure about this puppy - but I am pretty sure that it is a Bitsa breed - bits of many different breeds.

How the Puppy got its name:

As many that know me must know, I used to do quite a bit of wildlife conservation while back on the farm. And some time back I jokingly stated to to the people I am living with that I think I should get a puppy because I find the city life lonely. The owner of the house then said that I couldn't get a puppy - so I stated "what if I manage to rescue a little wild jackal - can I keep that?" to which he (who knows my history) replied "I guess that will be ok" and he laughed, because he knows the chances of getting your hands on a small jackal in the city is damn near impossible. It was all stated in humor though.

Now when I got this puppy, I ended up falling in love with it almost immediately, and after some quick thinking in the car on the way home - I decided to name the puppy "Jackals" - The puppy has been with me since.

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But saving kittens and puppies from the street is one thing...

This week, something even more bazaar happened. While out in the garden with the dogs, there was a splash in the water pond, and when we went to go investigate, we found a baby monkey trying its best to stay afloat in the icy water. It was only two beady eyes sticking out, and a tiny hand reaching for the waters edge one last time before sinking down.

We rescued the tiny little vervit monkey from its watery grave - (as much as I hate the little fuckers, I simply couldn't just stand there and let it drown)but the poor thing was already in shock from the cold. We waited around for a little bit trying to find the mother, but she seemed to be no-where in sight. Sadly in nature, the mothers would often abandon a baby monkey should they have any defect that would serve as a detriment to the troop, and this made me a bit worried about the fate of the poor little creature.

I dried off the monkey as best as I could and then lifted my shirt and pressed it firmly against my skin for body heat. He was almost lifeless, and his ice cold body was limp. I simply held the monkey against my bare skin with my shirt pulled over him and my jacket zipped up to allow him to regain some body heat, and eventually the small baby finally started coming to.

With the monkey now in a slightly more stable state we were able to give it a quick once over to look for any injuries that might have cased the monkey to fall or even ones that might have been caused by the fall, and this was when we saw that the monkey had a badly broken leg. It was a very bad, but clean break right above the ankle of the right leg, and I splinted it as best as I could, but I knew that it would only be a temporary solution, this little monkey would be needing some better medical care than what I was going to be able to give it at that stage.

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What made matters really difficult was that we had three small dogs in the house at that stage, the owners two thoroughbred Dachshunds - and then Jackals, the tiny little mongrel rescue. Now Jackals was quite indifferent to the monkeys presence, but the other two was annoyingly and aggressively inquisitive - making it very difficult to keep the already traumatized wild monkey at ease until help in the form of the vet from the local vervit monkey sanctuary arrived - the result was me ending up with some bad scratch marks and bites from the monkey.

Eventually we managed to keep the monkey inside a closed room and the dogs on the outside of it, this helped and we were then able to start feeding the baby some water and fruits to help him build his strength up. As for the bites and scratches on me - I cleaned that out with peroxide straight away.

Finally about 8 hours later, the vet finally managed to collect the monkey, the tiny beast was then given some pain medication and something to help it relax, and it was then scheduled for a medical procedure to put some screws into the break the next day.

I am happy to say that everything went well with his operation, and the monkey is currently recovering at the vervit monkey foundation in KZN.


(the little baby eating fruit, building up his strength)

Guess at the end of the day all is well that ends well. But I do think I have a big problem here, I need to start realizing that I can not always save them all, but that's the trouble with a warm heart in a cold place - I guess that's something that I simply cant just turn off. But at the end of the day - I guess all is well that ends well... at least until the next stray crosses my path!

Maybe rescuing these animals is all just an attempt to rescue a part of myself that is still closely tied with my nature roots wile I am away from the farm, all my animals as well as the nature and wildlife that I love so much?

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I'm with you, if it needs a home I'll take it in, I have never met an animal I didn't fall in love with, and if it needs help I'm there for it. When I was young I rescued all the birds that fell from the nest and the moms did't come to help. I would even rescue hurt and injured snakes lizards. Rescue and rehabilitate 😊

Omg they are all so adorable 😭

Yeah they are, and they are all safe and loved now... But I really need to stop dragging shit home LOL

You are an amazing person, i love you for what you have done, restores my faith there are lovely people out there. Thank you for saving those poor little souls 💞

You have a problem, shame but you are really helping this little creatures.
Thank you for sharing.

Bitsa breed - bits of many different breeds.

You made me smile. Is Jackals still with you?

I'm with you, if it needs a home I'll take it in, I have never met an animal I didn't fall in love with, and if it needs help I'm there for it. When I was young I rescued all the birds that fell from the nest and the moms did't come to help. I would even rescue hurt and injured snakes lizards. Rescue and rehabilitate 😊