Worry for "Singapore's" future

Yesterday evening from 6.00 pm, we combed the streets along Orchard Road, and then Rowell Road, looking for Selma. We approached the shop which Selma frequents and the aunty told us that she had not seen Selma all day. Someone said that they saw her at Tekka Market that afternoon, but we felt that there was no way we would find her at the market at that hour. We continued to walk along Little India till 8pm hoping to spot her, but as it got later, we decided to call off the search.

This morning (Wednesday) at 9.30am, I received a call from Chris, our friend who found “Singapore” and also a call from an officer from the Ministry of Community Development, Youth & Sports (MCYS)informing us that they had found Selma and taken her to a welfare home. We were so happy to hear that Selma will now have a roof over her head, proper meals, warm baths and a place for her to call home. I understand from the officer that initially Selma hesitated to go with them but when they asked her if she wanted to go to a nice place – she thought about it for a while and decided to go with them. When Selma arrived at the home with the social welfare officers, she saw how happy the people were and she decided that she wanted to stay on. What is nice is that the home will allow "Singapore" to visit Selma. However, "Singapore" will not be able to live there with her.

Angel will be at the Vet for another day or two

Interestingly, Selma told the officer that she was going to see her dog today at 6.30pm. That was what both Fiona and I agreeded to do and had promised to meet her at 6.30pm to bring her to see her dog at the clinic. The officer even knew where the dog was staying at because that evening, Selma took the clinic’s name card and she passed it to the officer. The officer asked us when we could bring Singapore to visit Selma and we told them that we will make the necessary arrangements with him for Singapore to meet Selma soon.

We know Selma is in safe hands, but we have to worry about the future of 'Singapore'. She is obviously very attached to her owner so she will try all ways and means to escape to look for and be with Selma again. Their bond is so strong that nothing can break them apart. The dog is down with diarrhea today, possibly from the stress and anxiety that she has been going through and being separated from her owner. We asked the vet to do a blood test on Singapore and good news is that despite living on the streets for the past three years of her life, she has a clean bill of health, free from heartworm and tick fever.

Looking lost and worried

Singapore has been Selma’s guardian angel and her only friend when she was down and lonely. We believe that everything happens for a reason; Chris found Singapore walking along Orchard Road looking for Selma and worried that the dog would get hurt while crossing the road, he took the initiative to befriend the dog and brought it to a safe place. Chris called us for help and we took the dog to the vet to check if it had a micro chip, while everyone tried to gather more information from the shop owners at Forum Galleria. After many hours of walking around and asking, we managed to track her owner. If we had placed a missing dog ad in the newspaper and informed the authorities – no way we could have found the owner because Selma would not know to read the papers.

Singapore will now have a new identity and name. As of today, she will be called Angel, she will always be Selma’s angel and guiding light. Angel never judged Selma and she accepted her for who she is – dogs don’t care if their owners are famous, ugly, rich or poor. All they want from us (humans) is love, companionship and compassion. Angel has indeed taught us something – she is truly a Man’s Best Friend.

We would like to thank Dr Vivian Balakrishnan for his swift action and kind assistance in this matter.

We would like to thank all our readers who have been reading about Selma and Singapore @ Angel. Their stories have touched many hearts and you have been very kind and supportive towards them.

If you have contributed to Selma's food etc, we would like to inform you that we will be using that to pay for Angel’s vet bill and her boarding till we find someone to foster or adopt her.

We urgently require someone to foster or consider adopting Angel. She is about 3 yrs old and apart from some skin problems from living a hard life on the streets, she is in good health, obedient and extremely intelligent.

We will plan for Angel to visit Selma soon, please stay tuned for updates on their reunion.

By Lynda