Ribs the Dog

This is a bit of sad tale, so those of you with low tear thresholds proceed at your own risk. About three weeks ago a scruffy black and white dog began hanging around the front gate at Canada House. She would scrounge for food scraps and after we paid her some attention our cook's assistant would give her leftovers. She was rail thin, so we called her "Ribs" as you could see all of hers through her fur. Well about a week later Ribs proceeded to give birth to ten puppies on our doorstep. One of the neighbor's rigged up a bit of den in the hedge next to the house and the puppies were set up. Well, if you thought we were feeding her before she became a Mom, you should have seen the food she got afterwards. Ribs took to camping out right in front of the gate and the guards helped her by chasing away the hyenas, yes I did say hyenas, from the den. As an aside, these aren't the goofy Whoopi-Goldberg-voiced hyenas of Lion King fame, no gentle reader hyenas are very aggressive hunters. The females are much bigger than the males and can get as big as a small donkey.

Anyway, Ribs and the puppies seemed to be getting along just fine when we noticed that Mom started acting lethargic and unresponsive. A couple of days later (this past Thursday night) one of our group found her in the bushes, very near death. The hyenas got her that night and we have inheirited eight two week old puppies (two were adopted by neighbor's). We fed them on Friday and Saturday and then decided to move the den into our compound to keep the predators away. We washed them and tried to remove as many flea and louse eggs as possible before setting them up in a plastic and rug based den in the back yard. They were a little traumatized by the move, but seem to have adapted. One seems to be convinced that my shoe is its mother.

Fortunately we have found a shelter in town, I did not think Addis would have such a thing given the hundreds of stray dogs we have seen, and in a week they will be old enough to be taken in by the NGO that runs it. We have also been trying to interest our colleagues in adopting the pups, whom we have also named after bones, in honour of their mother. So little Tibia, Fibula, Radius, Ulna, Scapula, Femur, Patella and Humerous are doing fine for now. One of our group is lobbying his family back in New Brunswick to allow him to bring one home. Anyone want a puppy?