Of Creatures Big and Small

Just the other night, I watched a TV show that featured the on-going “dog trading” in Cavite. These poor dogs were caught in the Southern Tagalog areas and sold for “asocena” meat in the North. I so pitied the poor dogs whose snouts were tied shut, front legs broken and tied back to prevent escape. My only consolation is that this illegal operation has been busted and the offenders will be prosecuted under the Animal Welfare Act. For all my work with marginalized sectors and special causes, animal rights is something I shall be adding to my agenda soon, although I already am a self-avowed animal lover.

My fascination with animals began early in my life. From the day my Dad gave me my first puppy named “Bracie,” there would be a succession of dogs and puppies that followed. Except for Ate Annette, who at some point kept a rabbit and two Guinea Pigs, plus that wayward turtle that Manong Butch’s fraternity brother left in our garden, no one else would surpass my penchant for keeping pets. Even Manong Snokum who kept three different sized aquaria for a time, never went beyond dogs and tropical fishes. But my affinity for creatures great or small transcended all theirs, and by the time I was in second year high school, I had my trusty Japanese Spitz, Julie, an aquarium of tropical fishes, some white mice, a couple of hamsters, and a few pigeons. So my weekends were busily spent bathing my dog Julie, washing and cleaning the different aquaria and cages. The only other concerns that took me away from my pets, besides school work, were my books and movies. So yes, I was kind of an introvert back then.

This menagerie would eventually be reduced as I left for college. But my Mom took over my aquarium and Julie while I was away. She said my pets made for great conversation pieces with her amigas. But as soon as I was back from University, my animal collection would include two cats which would keep away the giant rats from the creek that plagued us. Over time, an occasional white mice or rabbit would be given to me by friends or neighbors, but only dogs became “staple” pets at our home as I started work and entered law school. Even when I left home a couple of years later, I would always yearn for a pet to take care of. And that would be an additional qualification for my partner – that she would be an animal lover as well.

I actually have some interesting anecdotes about my childhood pets. Julie, my Japanese Spitz, actually “babysat” my white mice and hamsters when I cleaned their cages. I would leave my mice and hamsters running around on my bed, and if they were about to fall off, Julie would gently take them in her mouth and put them back in the middle of the bed. When I got back, they would all still be there, with Julie watching over them. Julie, was with us for a good ten years or so. Some of my high school and college friends would be familiar with her name. My whole family loved Julie, and it took a while before I had a dog like her again. And that would be my late Dachshund, Hannahgirl.