Noah

It was going to happen sooner or later: I did my first rescue today. Nothing exciting; very easy. I had seen this skinny little pup yesterday, excitedly bouncing up to passersby and following them for a while before the next human took his interest. His ribs and pelvis were protruding, his back legs looked weak, and his deep-brown eyes seemed to large for his underdeveloped head, but he seemed happy enough. I was on my way to the village market, so I told myself if he was still there when I came back I’d take him back to Hound Heights with me; he had vanished by the time I returned.

But today he was there again, bouncing around the street, greeting passersby, and he came straight to me. I picked him up and examined him; his teeth showed that he was only a few months old. He had no fleas nor any obvious ailment other than being grossly underweight. Again I told myself that, if he was there on my return journey, I would take him back to AWARE as he obviously wasn’t getting enough food to survive.

But Noah had other plans. Not wanting to leave seeing me again to chance, the skinny canine street urchin somehow found the Internet café I was at and came striding in for more attention. The café owner wanted to shush Noah out, so I picked the pup up and took him across the street, where he sat and waited patiently for me to finish what I was doing online. I carried him with me to the market, buying him a leash along the way. But he refused to walk when leashed, so, now laden with my jacket, chicken for the skin-condition dogs, supplies for myself, and a four-kilo pup, I decided to take a tuk-tuk back to the centre, making this a very expensive day for me, going well over my daily budget. But some things are worth it.
And why did I call him Noah? I discovered on my return that I had accidentally left a tap on before heading out, and the clinic was aflood with water.

As I’m writing this, Noah is happily munching on a raw chicken leg with a green-veggie-and-supplement sauce. He gets vaccinated tomorrow. It looks like I’ll be making a donation towards his care when I leave, but hopefully he’ll get adopted soon. We’ve had an adoption almost every day since I arrived.