Our dogs. "W" is the one in the middle. <3
Photo credit: Daddy
My Baba is an amazing Father and over the years I've witnessed his incredible strength and character. I've only seen him cry once and I will never forget it for as long as I live.
I was visiting my parents (I think on break from Uni) when I walked into the kitchen to see my Father sitting at the table. I looked at him and knew immediately something was very wrong. At that moment, right before my eyes he began to sob. I stood there frozen. I had never seen my Father cry a tear much less weep. I didn't know what to do or what was wrong. I felt helpless and afraid to move.
I walked towards him and put my hand on his back to comfort him. Asking him what was wrong and thinking the worse. He tried his best to utter the words that his beloved dog, "W", died. He was too upset to talk and the tears kept falling. I honestly do not remember what happened after that because it was so traumatic to see my Father in such a state.
Later my brother told me that he and Dad had taken the dogs to the boat. Dad went for a jog with "W" while my brother stayed on the boat with the other dogs. When they returned from the run "W" collapsed on the pier and fell in the water. My Father who is trained to react in emergency situations and has personally saved lives stood there looking at his favorite dog lying at the bottom of the water. He was stunned and he couldn't move. He started screaming for my brother and when he heard my Father he leaped off the top floor of the boat and ran to where they were on the pier. My brother jumped in the water and dove down to grab "W" from the bottom of the clear, shallow bay knowing that he was already dead.
We found out from the vet that "W" had a heart attack and that is why he collapsed after the run. It was a tragic loss for my entire family because we love all of our dogs like they are human. That was the first and last time I saw my Father cry from a broken heart.
When I read late last night about the poisoning of innocent stray dogs in Kuwait on both Desert Girl and American Girl’s blogs I immediately began to cry. This barbaric murder and inhumane treatment has to stop now.
Poisoning stray dogs not only causes a slow and painful death for one of God's creatures but also puts your pets and children at risk when they are outdoors.
God knows how much I cried writing this post. Please do something about this Kuwait.
Click here on my friend’s blog’s to read their important posts:
***Please visit American Girl's Blog and sign the petition to make a positive change in Kuwait.
Thank you so much for posting this. Bringing attention to this cause is so important.
ReplyDeleteThere's also a petition online available for people to sign (link is also on my blog post you shared), I've written to the local newspapers here in Kuwait, the International ASPCA, my local chapter of the ASPCA in NC (hoping they can contact someone on an international level), and wrote an article on it for my newspaper back home (just to bring awareness). I know DG has also reached out to PETA and other organizations.
As you know, sometimes there are no other options than to euthanize animals which can't be placed in a forever home. But there are humane ways to do this. That's the message I'm hoping to send.
Again, thank you for caring enough to share this as well.
American Girl ~ A slow death from poisoning and risking the lives of our pets and children is a crime. I think most Kuwaitis do not even know this is taking place in their own country. I told my fiance about what I heard and he couldn't believe it. He was outraged!
DeleteAfter reading your post the message was loud and clear. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.
most kuwaitis do not know this is going on, and the ones who do, are strongly against animal cruelty.
ReplyDeletein islam, there is a 7adith about a women who mistreated her cat. the women was very religuous in the sense she never missed a prayer, she fasted often, but the prophet says that she will end up in hell because she locked up her cat and would not feed her, nor will she let her fetch food for herself.
the bottom line is, I really hope expats do not get the idea that 'kuwait' and 'kuwaitis' are doing this to the animals. whomever is doing this is representing himself, and himself only.
7amood is exactly right. I know MANY Kuwaitis who own both dogs and cats (sheep, camel, etc) and love them dearly. This is not a 'Kuwaiti' problem, and definitely not something approved of in Islam. This is simply an attempt at controlling a population of stray animals, but not knowing how to do so in a humane way. My goal is to bring this to light, as well as alternative solutions -- to include humanely euthanizing when there are no other options.
DeleteIn addition to the Hadith 7amood has mentioned, there is also the one about the prostitute who was forgiven by Allah because she gave a thirsty dog water from her shoe. There are several others relating to the humane treatment of animals as well. So animal cruelty is definitely not something promoted in Islam.
7amood ~ I couldn't say it better than American Girl. :)
DeleteI agree with you and thank you for your comment.