Since I’ve been in Taiwan, I have seen three dogs hit by cars and left for dead. One was hit right in front of me while I was playing with it and the car just kept on driving. It didn’t even slow down when I threw my hands up in the air in blinding anger. I took the poor puppy to the vet the next day and she became my first dog in Taiwan. A few months later, my neighbor ran over a two month old puppy that was sleeping under his car. He came and went several times during the day, never doing anything for the dog that was lying in front of his door, unable to get up. None of the other neighbors did anything either. I finally picked the dog up and took her to the vet. I ended up paying over $NT10,000 in treatment to have her leg pinned back into place. She became my second dog in Taiwan. That same month I ended up with another puppy from my neighborhood. This one had distemper. After a few shaky weeks, she pulled through and is a normal dog today. I’ve helped out other injured dogs in my area and even a few cats. There have been times when I feel like a madman for trying to do so much. My neighbors love to complain about the number of animals that hang around my house but these animals were already there to begin with.
This brings me to the third dog to be hit by a car. I have been taking care of a seven month old puppy that lives around my place. She has been hanging around for months, so I finally started to bring her in at night and let her sleep in the back. However, earlier tonight, before I brought her in, I heard a dog howling in pain out by the main road. I knew it was her and went running outside to find her laying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road, no car in sight. She got up eventually and managed to walk back to my place. She is sleeping right now and seems to be doing ok. I think she just took a really bad blow to the head and may have cut her lip. It’s too late to take her to the vet right now but I’ll get her checked out first thing in the morning.
I just don’t understand what kind of person can run over any living thing and not even stop. I’m starting to go out of my mind trying to take care of all these dogs and I feel like it is never going to end. I’m not trying to save every dog in Taiwan but I just find it impossible to look the other way and do nothing. I don’t regret helping these poor dogs, but can we ever get people to have a little more compassion? Someone please tell me that it’s not a hopeless battle.