March 24th 2008 – This is the day that changed my life forever, the day that will haunt me until I die. I have always helped street dogs and animals in general my entire life, but only recently has this become such an obsession.
I had rescued 2 beautiful babies from the streets 20 months earlier. They were sisters and I named them Cleo and Gigi. I have often heard people talk about having an animal companion that was there “soul mate” and although I have always been close to animals, loved them, I couldn’t say that I had ever felt the same as some of these people described.
Then Gigi came into my life. She was a funny little puppy, legs to short, one black eye, but I quickly realized what all those people were talking about. Gigi, in short, was my soul mate.
I loved Cleo to be sure, as I do all my babies. I can’t explain the connection I felt to “G” (later I called her G, or Super G) but there it was.
The sisters Gigi & Cleo
I had been living at the beach for quite a few years and had made the decision to seek out more mountain surroundings and settled on moving to a really nice little mountain town. I found a great house with a lot of land for the babies to run, and there we went.
In all at the time it was myself, Cleo, Gigi, and my feline friends Ninja the Cat, Humo, Pepe, & Unica. This was in October of 2007, the girls, Cleo & G were full grown and about a year and a half old.
You could see for what seemed like 100 miles from my balcony.
Life was perfect.
Cleo was the kind of dog that could not be contained. I don’t know how many have come across pups like this but she was never satisfied with her yard, her surroundings, and from the time she was able it was a constant chore to keep her in any yard. She would always find escape and Gigi would always be in tow. Cleo had the heart of an explorer.
Gigi always looked up to her sister, they loved each other deeply and Cleo being the bigger of the 2, I think Gigi wanted to be like her.
I remember the first time they escaped from our new mountain home. I freaked as usual and went about patching holes in fences, trying to outsmart Cleo and her insesnt need to go run and play unfettered. It was always a losing battle with her. Given enough time she always found an escape with Gigi right behind her.
This went on for a few months but after time I started letting my guard down. Our house was surrounded by sugarcane fields and there were only 6 houses at the end of a dead end road. I could not really see my neighbors, just one house was close, we shared property lines but for the most part I was surrounded by Sugar and Cow Pastures. From my upstairs balcony I could watch Cleo and Gigi playing in the fields, running and chasing each other having fun, so I let it happen.
I need to say that again “I LET IT HAPPEN…”
When they were tired of playing in the fields I would call them and they would always come. That’s how life was for awhile, peaceful and happy.
And then the night of March 24th I called and no one came running.
I had let them out at 7pm and as usual Cleo made a beeline for the fields with Gigi right behind her. I started to make my dinner and after about 20 minutes I started to call them, nothing. Okay I thought, not done playing I will give them 10 more minutes.
I called. Nothing…
Now I am a little concerned, not greatly but a little. I go to my balcony to see if I can see them and continue to call. The sun had set so I decided that maybe an animal had caught their attention and I went out looking.
After a quick run over the places they would usually be I started to panic. Where were they? How come they were not coming when I called? Flashlight in hand I made the decision to plunge into the sugar cane. This is no easy task by day, at night it is ridiculous, easy for a small dog, difficult for a human, but my babies were missing. I started thinking about the possibility they were bit by a snake, and began frantically looking, calling, listening.
1 hour turned into 2 hours turned to 3 hours, and in my searching, nothing.
After a while I started to lose it. I could hear a dog barking far off in the distance and in my head, panicked and desperate, I was sure it sounded like Gigi. I immediately had formed this idea in my head that somehow Cleo had gotten in trouble and Gigi refused to leave her side.
I followed the sound of the barking and it took me many kilometers away from my home, sound travels funny in a valley, in the end it was all in my head. The dog in question was not Gigi, I did not find them, and my dread kept growing.
I looked all night, and when the sun came up I was in a taxi looking further a field in hopes of finding them.
Then I got a call on my cel phone. It was my neighbor saying something about “a terrible mistake” I sped over to his house and my world came crashing down around me.
There had been a mistake, the worst mistake.
This, the closet neighbor in proximity to my own house, had in the corner of their yard constructed a pen to keep chickens at a later date. I did not know this and it was back behind their house in the corner against the 14 foot wall we shared as a property line on the backside of the house.
I remember so clearly the scream that left my mouth as I ran across their yard, I have never screamed involuntarily and with such force in all my life. Before I even reached their bodies the terrible reality of the previous night had unfolded in my mind.
The farmers in the area had recently started to cut some sugar cane for the season. Sugar cane fields are full of rodents who love feeding on the cane. When they start to cut the rats and mice tend to move out until the cutting is done and they can go back in safety.
My neighbor had purchased rat poison for this and was keeping it in the chicken pen he had made. Cleo and Gigi jumped in and thinking they had found snacks began eating the poison.
I lost Cleo, Gigi and Ninja the Cat in the blink of an eye. When the neighbor found them in the morning they were already dead.
Cleo & Ninja the Cat
Gigi loved playing in the rain and mud
They were inseparable in life and in death.
This is the event that almost sent me over the deep end, the event that changed the course of my entire life. I had never felt pain so acutely before, I’ve lost friends, have buried both my mother and father, but nothing in my life can compare to the pain I felt that day, or continue to feel if I dwell on the events of that night.
In the end it was my fault, my complacency that made this happen. The reality that as I was out looking through endless sugarcane fields for my babies they were the entire time dying an excruciating death a stones throw from their home and safety will haunt me forever, as every mistake I made that night haunts me.
My beautiful life ended that day.
I took the help of my dearest friend to bring me back from a mental breakdown, but I was changed. Every animal I saw that was in need became my priority. Within 6 months I had rescued and adopted 5 dogs myself and had rescued and placed many more.
I had become obsessed with saving dogs and still am. I still cry uncontrollably when I think on this event and so try not to dwell but to move forward. It has taken me a long time to have the strength to write about it. I think the people who have found their own soul mates would understand.
To add insult to injury I lost Pepe the cat 1 week to the day after this event. He was attacked by 3 street dogs in the middle of the night. I heard him scream and went out side but was too late. I don’t know how many have ever heard an animal scream but they do, and it’s a sound I hope I never hear again.
Pepe was one of a kind, he is survived by his sister Unica
My only goal in life now is the opening of a shelter, a place where animals are safe and I can do more for those I care so deeply for. I will never give up on this and I will not fail. I do it in memory of those I have lost and I do it for those I might be able to save.
Posted in Animal Rescues, Charity Work, Dogs, Life
Tags: Animal rescue, animal shelters, Cats, charity, costa rica, lost dogs, Pets & Animals, Project Sanctuary, rescues, strays, street dogs
