Hot Diggity Dog

This is the face of the native dog (askal or Asong Kalye; aspin or Asong Pinoy to the "more politically correct") who successfully rescued her master's two young children from a raging motorcycle. In return, the accident (horrifyingly) obliterated her upper snout (I purposely didn't blur to prove a point, sorry).

The master, a poor worker from Zamboanga City, refused to have the dog put down--even after a local vet offered to do so for free. So here's the P150 (the cost of euthanizing a native dog) question: Should you be able to switch places with the dog's owner, would you allow her to go on living like this, in this state, even with the drastically reduced quality of life?

I know that this may seem like a leading question. But believe it or not, I am all for letting the dog live. Everybody loves a hero, right? Why would you put down this dog, who only did what she could to save her beloved owner's kids? Such a beautiful and touching canine interest story! No wonder the TV stations have been running this for some days now.

However, while listening to the dog's owner appeal for help, I thought: "What help could the dog possibly get?" Medicines to help heal the destruction that was her face? A prosthetic snout? Dentures so she could eat properly again?

In the United States, or other advanced countries (in terms of animal welfare), I am pretty sure that they would seriously consider euthanasia. But here, in a country where quite a number of people (whether they admit it or not) still eat dogs, putting this courageous animal to sleep is considered an outrage.

I myself am torn--torn between the dog lover and the animal rights advocate in me. Truth is, I believe that this dog deserves to live; by God, she has earned it! We can debate all we want if she is presently aware of the magnitude of what she has done, but she deserves a chance to live.

I must emphasize, however, that hero or not, we should always remember to put the dog's welfare in mind. We are not stewards of these wonderful creatures (who depend on us for love and care) for nothing.