Week 5: A Dog's Life...in Macao

I'm back after a hiatus! Let's get caught up!

          I knew I had to write about the packs of stray dogs here when I saw two dogs cross a busy intersection, dodging speeding cars and risking their lives, just to pee on some pandas. I became certain I had to write about them after one of them bit me and I spent MOP 2000 on treatment at the clinic. Allow me to explain...

The traffic circle the dogs darted across and their intended target...a glowing panda

          Where  I live in Macau there are stray dogs everywhere. It is odd to be in such an advanced, industrialized, city and to find that stray dogs--I am NOT kidding--control entire chunks of neighborhoods. For the most part these are dogs that people get to guard junkyards and construction sites but then let breed or let loose once the sites close. Most of them are OK in my book; just wandering around looking for food and/or something to attempt procreation with. They're plucky in a way. The aforementioned pair of dogs that braved traffic were strays that crossed into a busy traffic circle garden to pee on some decorative plastic pandas the government placed all over the city to celebrate the arrival of two panda bears to the zoo. However not every stray here is quite so charming. The occasional junkyard variety can get territorial and vicious. They REALLY don't like it when you run either.

Stray puppies, training for my next jogging session...

         Back in November, around dusk, I was jogging with a friend and we past a junkyard. As we passed two large dogs inside started barking at us and managed to escape from the fence that was holding them in. My friend and I were chased for about 100 yards, the dog chasing my friend couldn't catch him but my dog was lucky! He picked the slower, lazier American human and took a bite out of my calf as a I ran. I kept running and ran across the street hoping the dog would chase me there and get hit by a passing car...it didn't occur to me that the same might happen to me. Anyway, I eventually got away and my buddy caught up with me and we found a police officer ASAP. I pleaded with him to go back to where the dogs were and to let me shoot them, but alas something got lost in translation and he called an ambulance. He didn't speak English and anyone who has read my previous posts knows my Chinese skills are not appropriate for this conversation (or any, really...).
         After a short visit to the hospital to bandage the wound and to get a rabies injection I filed a report with the police. I showed them the junkyard where I was bit and we even found the dog that bit me! When we saw it instead of calling animal control (open M-Fr from 0830-1600 hrs--convenient!) or macing it or letting me shoot it, he took a picture of the dog! Yes, he took a picture! Thew worst part is he got out of the police van walked right up to the dog and shoo-ed it away in order to take a picture. Before he snapped the photo he looked back at me and says "This is the dog?" (with his accent I couldn't tell if he was mocking me, but he should have been). Later after following up with the police they told me the property isn't owned by anyone and that they couldn't hold anyone responsible even though I see people on a daily basis enter the junkyard and there are even people living there. I planned for weeks, while attending bi-weekly rabies injections at a local clinic (5 shots total), my Titus-like revenge. I imagined sinister plots where I poison the animals or egg the junkyard or at least hurl insults at the dogs behind the fence---something, anything!!! But, the momentum of my job and my general apathy took over and I am here months later in disbelief that I once cared about it so much.
       As a pithy epilogue to the whole thing, just a few weeks ago I was leaving my gym and saw the police officer who helped me the night of the biting on foot patrol. He was very nice and said 'hello'. At that moment 3 stray dogs passed us in a pack. I stared at the dogs and then looked back at him as if asking him, as a public servant, to do ANYTHING about these dogs...he sees the dogs and looks back at me with what I can only describe as jovial bemusement and says, "haha..dogs, huh?'....I stare back at him in disbelief..."yeah. I wish someone would do something.." He only laughed a little and said, "Yeah!".

Macau-wabunga, indeed.