Ungtin fi-ay

So, to say the least, I was a little bit horrified and emotionally disturbed at the thought of killing my dog by drowning with a big rock or hanging from a tree. I knew I would regret it. Look at this pathetic American empathizing with another living thing with emotions.

I figured there were two options: either kill him or give him to my friend in the neighboring town with the possibility to train him, but the higher possibility of just causing more problems. I would have rather done the latter, but I thought of a third option. I live on this massive, wide river that nothing besides the fish around here know how to swim well in, for whatever reason, including dogs (I hope). Mr. Mansaray has a boat which I figured we could use to ferry the dog to the other side with, and leave him there. He said that people sometimes did this with trouble dogs, giving the other side of the river their problems.

Before we did this, I went over to the home of that small boy that was nipped on the butt by my dog yesterday. I sat around for a good while while the boy was found, and then I had to talk to this woman that was apparently his mother even though some other woman went with us to the clinic yesterday whom I thought was his mother. This woman clearly didn't understand me too well, but I tried to explain slowly that the 50,000 Leone I was giving her was for the shots and all the transportation costs. I think she was just happy to be being handed 50,000 Leone. I'll probably go ask the clinic tomorrow whether it was actually used properly.

I then went home, and gave the dog a nice last meal of rice. I figured he would need it to start his new life on the other side. Then, Muhammed (I'm going to start calling him I-Tal, since that is his nickname, tall, which he really is) and I took the dog down to the fishing neighborhood. On the way, the dog went for a couple kids, further telling us that he definitely needs to go no matter what. The dog is just scaring them, but occasionally goes too far, obviously.

On the way, when I-Tal told people what we were doing with the dog, they all laughed at me and basically told me I just need to get a big rock, tie it to him with a chain, and toss him in the river. Other people suggested I take the chain with a padlock and lock him on a tree on the other side. My option was comical, essentially. Nobody was understanding why I wasn't just drowning him. I had to say over and over that it was cruel and I wanted to give him a second chance at life. They couldn't understand that it was at least worth trying; there was no harm in it. Everyone is so stuck in tradition here. I think it is difficult to think outside the box. I eventually told them straight that I have a different ethical system. Gibberish. Everyone said he was going to swim back. They figured when he got back he'd go on a rampage. I told them dogs aren't vengeful. I told them that if he does swim back, we'll kill him like they want. Let's hope he doesn't. I could easily mistake the behavior for blood lust. It's hard to find empathy here.

I had to basically put my foot down. Everyone thought I was being ridiculous, because what they do here is tie a big rock to the dog and toss them in the river. They thought that since he was obviously going to swim back across this ridiculously huge river, you might as well take care of it once and for all. Anyway, we eventually got in a medium sized boat and started going across. The dog was obviously terrified, shaking, nuzzling up to me. He was scared of the water. Everyone was laughing. We got to the other side, and I went over into the knee deep mud, pulled him over, and tossed him up the shore. He sunk in pretty deep, and tried to come back. I got back in, and we left, and the dog was terrified. Luckily, he didn't try to swim, but he looked pretty desperate. He cried, and I felt pretty bad. We watched him eventually crawl up onto the shore. I hope he is getting along over there.

I'm happy, basically. I feel like I have done the right thing, and a burden has been lifted from me because I don't have to worry about him biting somebody else. I feel like I have stood on an ethical high ground and represented a more empathetic and emotionally mature way to behave towards other animals. But, there are plenty of sides of the problem to consider. I just know I would have felt horrible if I would have just drowned him. I am sure if he finds his way out of the rice farms, he'll probably be fine. I just hope he doesn't come back. It is a big river to cross.