Tuesday, 15th December 2020 — Last week, I wrote about feelings of discouragement regarding humanity’s behaviour. That was before the four dogs in our communal yard were poisoned. One dog died a couple days before. The other three dogs were found dead on the same morning. Each dog was found in a nearby location and their heads were facing north, east and west.
The cruelty of humans is weighing heavily on my mind, and I am wondering what is wrong with people who commit such heinous acts. To kill an animal using poison is a cruel death. How would we feel if we ingested a poisonous substance?
In Anguilla, throughout the Caribbean, and in numerous countries worldwide, there are people who do not respect, love and care for all of God’s creatures as we have been ordained to do – and as is written in the biblical scripture quoted below from the book of Genesis chapter 1, verse 26 (King James Version): Do we not consciously recognise God gave souls in human forms – every man, woman and child – dominion “over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”?
This is the doggies’ story. Only one of the dogs was officially owned by the neighbours. He was a pure bred, partly Black Labrador named Snookum, and had become a beloved pet of everyone who lived close by and shared this yard. Two of the dogs belonged to village residents who lived not too far away. They were adopted into our yard’s menagerie. It seemed this twosome preferred our playground to live in – rather than wherever they came from. Their owners didn’t appear to miss or look for them. I named the two adoptee pets, Lady, that was a female and Red Ginger because of his reddish toned fur. The fourth animal was a puppy that had been kept from the litter of six pups birthed by Lady. He was a cute little pup, tan in colour with a white streak on the back of his neck, so I called him Tanny.
All the dogs were well fed and watered. True to a dog’s nature, they enjoyed the family pack, having doggie playmates for daily romps, barked lots, dragged items into the yard, and chased fowls and lizards. They cherished human companionship. Even two medical students who used to reside next door played with them. Every day I greeted and spoke to Snookum, Lady, Tanny and Red Ginger whenever I left and came back to the yard. Lady could be a nuisance with all her excited jumping. She was jealous wanting all the attention.
I was heartbroken about losing these beloved pets to such a fate – and shed an abundance of tears for their souls’ departure. We have all gone through enough deaths of family and friends in 2020. Now on top of many loved ones passing, we have to add the dogs’ poisoning. This is too much to bear.
As well, during this COVID-19 pandemic, domestic violence has risen to excruciating heights in our small community. Incidents reported to the Royal Anguilla Police Force provide supporting evidence for these human rights violations. Dr Ronya Foy Connor, Head Gender Development Coordinator, also mentioned this rise in the recently held 16 Days of Activism campaign. It was spoken about at one of this year’s activism awareness programme activities in which I participated – the Women’s Self Defence Workshop offered by the RAPF Personal Safety Tactics Officers on Wednesday evening, December 9th.
We must thoroughly examine the abuse and mistreatment that humans do to one another as well as to every living thing on the planet. The Creator wants us to work diligently to shift this heartless behaviour. For if we do not, then we will surely fall into Hell on Earth with evil and wickedness prevailing across the globe and becoming the norm, which we are accustomed to having in our everyday lives.
I dare say we human beings have a long way to go in improving how we behave, act and treat one another – as well as deal with all of God’s creation. We must awaken to the virtue of mercy that the Creator teaches us to embrace. St Luke 6:36 speaks to us in this regard: “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” May we all express more mercy.
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Kay M Ferguson is a conscious writer, who writes under the nom de plume Empress Extraordinaire, composing words to enlighten and uplift humanity. Connect with her on social media — Facebook and LinkedIn or email anguillawriter@gmail.com.
