A Happy Ending

On Monday my last afternoon class was being given a test so I was able to leave school early and run errands before my night class at the library. I had to walk right past a pile of trash/carcass, nothing unusual in that. When I glanced over, I noticed three tiny puppies huddled together, shivering and left to die. Someone put these sweet baby girls in a goat carcass, wrapped it in a plastic tarp and dumped them. I just stood over them and cried. I knew if I walked away they would freeze to death in a matter of hours.

After calling and texting all the American and Korean volunteers, we were able to get a lama to come get the white and brown girl, pictured top right. I decided to take the other two girls home, absolutely unable to leave them, and figure the rest out later.

My site mate and I fed Snow White and Brindle Baby milk from a syringe. Yes, I named them. After about two hours, when I was sure they had warmed through, I gave them a very soapy bath to get rid of the goat smell and blood.

Snow White was adopted later Monday evening. Brindle Baby spent Monday night with us and was adopted early Tuesday afternoon. My 'faith' in humanity was shattered when I first stumbled upon the pups but was fully restored by the compassion and swift work of my site mates to help get these babies good homes.

Of all the cultural differences, the treatment of animals has been one of the hardest things for me to "get used to." Although we were fully warned about "round ups" and "pupsicles" it's one thing to hear about it and wholly another to face it. My site mate D said she thought those pups were dumped there for a reason, in a high-traffic area (rather than at the river or outside the ger district) where someone like me might find them. Her translator said he was thankful for foreigners because we show animals compassion. All three of these pups were adopted Mongolians; a sign of hope in that.