Meet sweet little Beano.
Who would ever think of hurting a dog with an adorable face like this?
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Beano had chemical burns on half of his head. Some cruel person had poured acid on him and the
liquid had burnt his head, his left ear and parts of his neck, as it flowed down. Imagine the
excruciating pain he had been living with for almost three weeks before we saved him.
It was 8.30pm when I arrived at the construction site. When I saw him, there were still stains of this
dark coloured liquid on his fur, covering his neck and head. It was pitch dark but I could smell the
maggots from a few feet away as I approached him. Having worked with strays, this was unfortunately,
a smell I was very familiar with, and obviously not something I liked. The dog was emaciated, bones
protruding from his skeletal frame. Being small and weak, he was not part of the pack of stray dogs
that hung around that area. And as such, he did not get to share their food and was constantly attacked
and bullied by them.
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| Just arrived at the hospital |
Despite the fact that his pain was unbearable and that it was obviously inflicted by humans, he wagged
his tail as this human got closer to him. He still trusted this inhumane breed.
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| His first human touch - by the vet tech who felt sorry for him |
It was easy to catch him because he was starved and all I needed to do was put some canned food
into my carrier and he went right for it. I loaded him into my van and rushed to the Mt Pleasant
Hospital. It was emergency hours and would have cost more to take the dog in but I felt he had
suffered long enough and it couldn’t wait till morning.
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| Beano, feeling sorry for himself |
At the hospital, with proper lighting, I finally had a proper look at him. He must have lived one of the
saddest existence. Suddenly I didn’t feel so strong . . . . .his eyes were trusting but it showed the hard
and sad life he lived. He was a mere puppy, he couldn’t have been more than a year old!
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| The chemical had burnt part of his head, ear and neck. Imagine living with this pain for weeks. |
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| Maggots had eaten through parts of his flesh |
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| All he wanted was someone to hold him and tell him that he would be alright as the lady held his head and her tears rolled down her cheek. |
As he stepped out of the carrier on his own, his pain and suffering hit me hard. Pus was oozing out
of his wound, maggots were crawling all over his wound and his tiny face. There were holes when
there should have been flesh. I saw bubbles on his head and I knew maggots had burrowed through
and eaten away his flesh. His left ear was distorted with parts of it missing, either from the chemical
burn or from the flesh eating maggots. A lady who had walked past us on the way out after visiting her
dog, stopped to stare at him. Immediately her tears flowed as she knelt down to ask me what
happened. I explained and she asked why? Why are people so cruel? Despite the smell of rotting
flesh and the maggots on his head, she hugged him. He lay his head on her knee. All he wanted was
love; someone to understand what he had gone through in his short life.
The vet on night shift came and looked at him and commented he was terribly thin. She looked at his
huge wound and said she needed to sedate him to flush out the maggots and the chemical. It would
have been too painful to clean without sedation. I requested that she flush his eyes too, in case the
chemicals had also splashed on his eyes. Fellow volunteer, Lisa, rushed down to visit little Beano
before he was sedated to have his wound cleaned. She cried when she set eyes on him. She too,
knelt beside him, and kissed his little nose. Barely a year old, and life had not been kind to him.
Watch Beano here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPilXCEqJdI&feature=youtu.be
Beano is expected to be at the vet for at least a week to ten days, where his wound would be
cleaned daily and maggots flushed out. We won’t be returning him to the streets as obviously, he
would not survive. He is small in built, not like a typical local breed. He could easily live in a HDB
apartment and be approved.
In the next day or so, we would need to decide if we want to leave his wound to slowly heal on its
own, which may take up to two or three weeks, or to have him undergo a surgery to stitch up the
wound. Either way, he would be left with physical scars of human abuse, but we hope, with our love
and care, he won’t have scars of his emotional abuse.
I sense that he might have been kept as a pet and then abandoned as he walks very well on harness,
from the night we rescued him, he knows “sit” and he loves treats.
Why do I open my heart to dogs in need? Especially when sometimes there is no more money, no
more fosters and no more space to help. Every dog that crosses my path, I think of them as “my dogs”
and I open my heart a little bigger, I stretch the money a little tighter, and I plead for just a little more
room, a little more hope, to save one more dog. The gratitude and love that reflects in their
eyes, is the best assurance that I did right, in the best way I know how and it reminds me to go on
trying, to go on saving.
I feel good saving lives but I would feel even gooder if you would give sweet Beano a real life. He
deserves to know love.
Beano is warded at Mt Pleasant Veterinary Centre (232 Whitley Road). To foster, adopt or help
with his vet bills, please email fiona@hopedogrescue.org
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