11/10/02 Rescuing of the Dog Lika
Dramatic operation of rescuing a dog from a 10-meter deep pit, that was thrown into the pit a year ago together with the whole litter
ALONE IN THE PIT FOR A WHOLE YEAR
The dog survived the whole year eating the remains of animals that were thrown into the pit!
In the place called Janja Gora in Lika, near Plasko, at Saturday, November 9, at 1 P.M. an operation of rescuing the dog that was thrown into the pit a year ago was launched. The operation was organised by Animal Friends that contacted the mountain rescue service, whose employee, Dinko Novosel, who is also a veterinarian, got down into the pit and tried to get the desperate animal out of there.
Unfortunately, what we were most afraid of came true - the dog was deliriously frightened and crawled into a narrow hole, and he would neither come out, nor could he be pulled out of there. That is a normal behavior, explained Mr. Novosel, because the dog was thrown into the pit while he was still a puppy and he has never seen any other living creature.
Although completely blind, the dog kept running in circles down in the pit, and after that he crawled deep into the cave and in that way made it impossible for people to approach and rescue him. He is scared and fighting for his life, and the fact that he has never been in contact with other dogs or people makes the whole situation even more difficult.
All we know about the dog is that he's a little black cross-breed, who is probably completely blind, since he has spent his whole life in the darkness of the pit. The dog is afraid of people, which means that he has never been in contact with any other living creature.
Alone in the dark pit for a whole year
As the locals told the reporters of the Croatian Television and the newspaper Jutarnji list, the dog has been here for over a year. He was thrown into the pit while he was still a puppy, together with the whole litter, and it's a miracle that he survived after all. Otherwise, the pit serves as an illegal animal corpses dump and the dog has fed on their flesh for the past year and has managed to survive that way. He has probably drunk rain-water or there is a water spring somewhere in the pit, because the pit spreads over a broad territory - speculated the locals.
However, the question is why nobody reacted to that in the past year and why nobody saved the dog, if all the locals knew about that? "We wanted to throw a bomb into that pit and put him out of his misery" - said some of them, although it would be much easier to do what the Animal Friends did - launch a rescue operation!
Rescue operation
During the visit to the place Janja Gora, Mr. Milan Grba talked to the locals and learned about the dog. After that, he personally checked the whole thing and informed his friend, Diana Milicic, a member of Animal Friends, who launched the whole operation on that very day. We contacted the mountain rescue service and arranged for the dog to be pulled out of the pit. Unfortunately, we did not succeed at the first try, which means that we will have to come back as soon as Monday.
After we have taken the dog out, he will be examined and treated at the Veterinary Clinic in Zagreb, as well as put up into the shelter for dogs in Dumovec. Although it is packed with puppies at the moment, the shelter will welcome the dog with open arms. Dr. Adanic, the shelter manager, hopes that the dog will soon find a home with a family that is willing to devote their love and attention to him after he had spent the whole year in a pit in Janja Gora, and he would also like to remind people to a large number of puppies that are kept in the shelter at the moment and that are waiting for "their own" family too.
Animal Friends also asks good-hearted people to find a home for the dog after he has been taken out of the pit, examined and healed. At the same time, we would like to invite all interested people to visit our Internet Ads for finding a home for animals, as well as the shelter in Dumovec, and provide a home that the puppies and rejected animals that are kept there deserve.
You can keep track of events regarding the rescue operation on the web site of the association, www.prijatelji-zivotinja.hr, and see the photographs of the operation, as well as of the dog himself after he has been rescued.
Who threw the dog into the pit?
The dog was thrown into the pit together with the whole litter probably by one of the locals. Since the pit is a veritable animal graveyard packed with corpses of animals of all kinds, it is no surprise that somebody threw living puppies there as well. What the dog went through is beyond belief, and he was probably not the only one who was destined to die in such a horrible way. It is simply unbelievable what the people are capable of doing.
Therefore, it is natural that the following question poses itself: what kind of person can throw living puppies into a 10-meter deep pit?
It is almost unbelievable that anybody can survive a year of complete isolation in a place like the pit in the middle of Lika. But that is precisely what the dog, who was thrown by a cold-hearted person into a 10-meter deep pit a year ago, survived. With almost no chance to survive, the dog was left at the mercy of hunger, cold, darkness and fear. He will remain under those conditions another day or two, until the rescue operation has been completed, and after that the blind and frightened animal will be adopted by a true animal friend.
Torturing of the animals is our everyday life
The case of this dog may be unique because of the fact that he survived. But killing and torturing of the animals are, unfortunately, our everyday life. To throw a dog into the pit is a horrible act. But no less horrible is the fact that all shelters for animals are packed with puppies and dogs thrown out on the street. Every day pigeons and cats are poisoned, domestic and wild animals are killed in sick and sadistic hunting games, and millions of animals all over the world suffer at meat farms, egg farms, dairy farms, fur farms, in laboratories, circuses, zoos... This sequence is almost endless. What is it about people that makes them torture the animals? What motivates them to give vent to their lower instincts in that way?
Let the example of this dog be our lection. Let us learn to respect the animals, instead of using them. There are not objects created to serve people. They exist for their own reasons. Let us respect the life and co-exist with the animals, and not from their pain and suffering.
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