You thought, I think, Who Confirm?

In this entry, i’ll be shedding some light on the common misconceptions about stray animals after months of exposure to them and i hope this will help ya’ll feel less frightened if and when you come across a stray animal (:

1. Stray animals will bite/attack you

WRONG!
Stray animals like dogs and cats are way more afraid of you than you are of them. If you see them approaching a human, it’s most likely that the human is their regular feeder (who btw have used a lot of time to gain a certain level of mutual trust). In other cases, they approach humans because they have a friendlier and more innocent nature which is totally harmless to us humans because like a baby, that’s how innocent & unweary they are of human strangers. So there’s really nothing to be that afraid of.

I understand there have been articles that reported strays chasing after joggers or people on bicycles in the middle of the night and this has left the humans in those situations rather traumatised but to put things into perspective, imagine you have no place to call your home. Your home is literally the open air and trees that you left your markings on and that you’re so used to sleeping beside. The only time you get to look for food is when the humans have cleared the area and traffic is close to none. You’ve been enduring your hunger for the entire day, waiting for nightfall just so you can start to look for food nearby your resting place and then you suddenly see a strange object running/cycling. You have no idea what that is. You just know you’re hungry and you want to look for food in peace. But this strange moving thing comes along and wrecks your routine. It’s tough enough to have to look for food in this urban city where you can’t dig up trash or hunt for your food because there’s really not much around and you can’t even buy food because you’re not a human and you can’t knock on people’s doors to ask for food. All you see is a strange moving thing that might be a threat to you and you never know if it’s going to be competing with you for food. It’s in your territory and you want nothing but to get your stomach filled.

Would you have chased away and fend off the moving human?

Not being biased, but i totally would. i’m someone who requires a certain amount of personal space so if i’m ever going to be a stray dog, god knows i will do more than bark and chase if a strange moving object decides to invade my territory in the middle of the night where it’s my only time I get to come out of my hiding and considering that that strange human is in my territory.

2. They bark for leisure

WRONG!
A baby doesn’t wail for nothing and similarly, a dog would not bark for nothing as well. It’s most likely that they are barking to fend off intruders in their territory or that it’s going to rain because they don’t have a roof over their heads which means they can feel even stronger static electricity waves from the lightning and it causes much discomfort to them as it runs through their fur or because they are in pain and calling out for help or they lost their pack member(s) and are barking out to call out to them or that they are lost and are signalling out to their pack members to help locate them.

There was a few times this particular pair of stray dogs who are always seen together day in day out lost each other in the middle of the night and the male dog was missing for a couple of days. The female dog refused to eat the food that we packed for her for that few days and the only thing she did was run in circles where they usually take their routine walks endlessly throughout the entire days and nights that he was missing in search for him. We could really see her panic and anxiety on her face and we tried to find him as well but to no avail. She would stand in the middle of the road and howled and barked in hopes that he could hear her and come back to her and it was so heartbreaking for us to watch. We felt so helpless as we followed her from the back just hoping no cars will accidentally drive too fast past her and we can’t imagine how much more helpless she must’ve felt during that few days. During the nights of her helpless but hopeful barkings and howlings, there was a night that we came across this two men who came down with an umbrella because they wanted to hit her with it. They knew where her resting place was and it was 4am. My neighbour and I were following her the whole time and thankfully we were there to stare down with them. I understand that the stray dogs barking and howling in the middle of the night may cause nuisances to some but all we ask for is that people experiencing these noises take a minute to understand why they are doing that. Just like humans, if they had a choice at all, they would much rather sleep and rest whenever possible but it’s these unforeseen circumstances that force them to react this way. I really hope people can take a step back and extend some empathy if not sympathy for these strays that don’t have anywhere else to call home because to them, family is their pack member(s) and home is where their pack member(s) is/are and that’s just all they have.

3. They live in the wild. They will eat whatever they can find like rats and rubbish.

WRONG!
During my time of feeding strays, I have seen many dead rats and toads and frogs especially on rainy days but I hardly see the corpses with puncture wounds. Most of them are dead because cyclists run past them and the crows feed on their bodies. Even if there were punctured wounds on them, it was mostly due to the fact that the rats are always scavenging on the food we packed for the dogs. We don’t get to feed them up close here so we have to pack their food and leave it at their spots for them to take their food and usually, there will also be rats lurking around to steal a bit of their food. On a rainy day/night, I think everything is more of a blur compared to a dry weathered day because obviously the rain drops falling on their faces and in their eyes don’t make it easier for them and the sudden roar of thunders and flashes of lightnings adds on to their anxiety of having to take their food avoiding humans and having to fend off any other threats and having to deal with the weather.
For those of us that have pet(s) at home, we provide them a safe space to eat their meals in peace but remember that there’s no safe space for the strays. Everywhere and everyday is only safe if they protect and fight for it.
In this urban city that forced them to live in, there’s not much hunt for them and they don’t live off eating rats because it’s just not in their nature to eat them and they don’t see rats as foods. They don’t eat rubbish as well although some may dig through trash in hopes to find some leftover meat bits that is why I’m committed to feeding them with decent food meant for dogs to hopefully provide them with enough energy to burn through the night.

These are the top 3 misconceptions about stray dogs and I will share more in the next few entries so sign up to our newsletter to get updates on it if you’re interested and till then, please be kind to all animals especially the ones without the privilege to have a roof over their heads.