LABUAN: A stray puppy stranded in a storm drain sounds like the opening of a sad nursery tale, but this story has a very happy ending.
When residents of the Sungai Bedaun housing area here began hearing the plaintive barks of a distressed pooch emitting from a neighbourhood monsoon drain, few knew what to do – or even whether to do anything at all. But several kind-hearted animal lovers, who could no longer bear to hear the sad cries of the little canine, decided to take action.
After contemplating, and deciding against, retrieving the puppy on their own, they called the Fire and Rescue Department for help.
“We received a call from the public that a dog had fallen into a drain at about 3pm.
"Eight personnel were despatched to the scene to bring the puppy out,” said a department spokesperson.
But it was the task of Officer Jerry John to clamber down and fish the tired and terrified puppy out of the 2-metre deep drain, which was filled ankle-deep with trash-saturated water.
What emerged was a wet, but grateful, dark brown, 2 month-old mongrel. And though it was in sore need of a bath – not to mention food and a warm place to recover – all at the scene were instantly taken with the pup.
“(But when we asked around), we learned that the dog was not owned by anyone,” said the spokesperson, so the team decided to bring the orphan canine to the station as a temporary measure, before coming up with a plan on what to do with it.
Once the puppy arrived at the Labuan fire station, a staff member with a fondness for pooches - personal assistant to the chief, Jennifer Sopendek - was immediately enamoured with it, and took it upon herself to clean and feed it. A bond grew between the two, and before the day was over, Jennifer decided she could not part with the dog. She decided to provide the pooch with a loving ‘forever home’ by adopting it, on the spot, and naming it ‘Saviour’.
As the saying goes, every dog has its day.