Amidst the desolation and isolation, my pack and I have eked out a living for what seemed like an eternity. In our surrounding wasteland where resources are scant, we go hungry sometimes for days. Rocks, grass and the occasional dead carcass provide enough sustenance for our existence, but sometimes hunger drives us to venture further to quell the hollow feeling in our bellies.

It was one of those days where I ventured off the beaten track, desperate for anything that will sustain me for another day. As I trudged wearily through the forested area, my whole life literally turned upside down as my leg got ensnared in a steel trap that left me dangling from a tree.

The wire, with gravity as its accomplice, cut mercilessly into my flesh, and pain flashed like fireballs in my head. My legs and body throbbed in throes of pain, and the wire slowly and agonizingly ate through my flesh and into my bones and peeled my flesh away layer by layer ...

The more I struggled, the more intense the pain, until I nearly blacked out, and though I screamed till exhaustion, no one heard my cries of pain. Helpless I was as a lamb before the slaugther, and behind that red veil of nightmarish and torturous pain, I prayed that it will all end soon ...    

Kiwi and her friends were a pack of strays struggling to survive in the wastelands of Lim Chu Kang. There was hardly any food resource there and the dogs had to travel long distances in search of food and water. The original pack of 13 dwindled over time with many succumbing to starvation, fights, disease and abuse

ASD volunteers who made their rounds around the area discovered this friendly pack sometime back and tried to provide food for their sustenance on a daily basis. Sometimes they will not see certain dogs for a week and then they will appear, some with injuries and wounds, the way of life of strays, the culture of survival. When a dog doesn't return after about 2 weeks, it is known in no uncertain terms, that the dog has met its demise somewhere, and our hearts will say a silent prayer for its soul

Around May-June 2009, the volunteers started to notice wounds around the legs of the dogs but thought nothing of it, attributing it to fights and forages through the wooded areas. Then Kiwi, one of the sweetest dog in the pack disappered. Again it was thought that she had ventured out into new territory and would be back, but after 2 weeks when she did not return, we sadly thought she had crossed over to the rainbow bridge.

At that time, another one of the dogs, Nancy, appeared with a horrendous wound to the front leg, with some of the flesh sliced off, and 2 other dogs had similar but less serious wounds. Nancy had to be brought into our Adoption & Rescue Centre (ARC) while the other 2 were given antibiotics and benocin powder for their wounds.

Something was obviously amiss here and we started asking around. We checked with an old man who squatted in a nearby area, and he finally told us after much 'persuasion' (we had to bribe him) that the dogs were all victims of illegal traps laid out for wild boars in the nearby forested area

It was then that Kiwi appeared that day with half her hind leg ripped off, bone splintered, dripping blood and extremely malnourished. The sight filled us all with horror and it was heart wrenching to see the weak and agonized look on her face pleading for help.

All in all she was missing for about 3 weeks, and our senses were overwhelmed as to how she could have survived these harrowing weeks. From the old man's description of the trap, once the trap was activated, a wire noose tightened aroung the foot and the whole body was swung over a tree dangling.

There could only be 2 possibilites how Kiwi managed to free herself of the trap. One, she could be so desperate and the pain so intense, that in a wild instinctive moment of survival, she chewed through her own foot, flesh, bone and all. Two, she may have been left dangling for at least a couple of days, where her own body weight acting downwards with gravity, caused the wire noose to slowly and agonizingly cut through the many layers of flesh, and finally to the bone, and with frantic struggling, probably caused the bone to snap and the flesh to be ripped off ...

It was amazing how Kiwi, after all this time, derilious with fear and pain, managed to survive hunger and infection to limp her way back to the feeding area where she knew she would get help. Stung by the severity of the situation, our volunteers immediately carried her back to the ARC for trauma treatment. She offered no resistance and was calm and quiet, probably too weak but also instinctively knowing she was getting help

The area around her leg was carefully cleaned and she was given antibiotics and painkillers for the interim trauma treatment and she was ravenous, eating everything we placed before her. Then she laid quietly, her eyes and body slowly relaxing, and maybe for the first time in so many weeks, she closed her eyes and slept ...

As the week opened, we arranged for the vet to perform an amputation of her hind leg. Unfortunately, this was the only recourse, as there was concern about infection and at the same time, she will never be able to use her leg without her foot, which will eventually cause muscle atrophy.

The operation went well and the vet reported that she came out of it alert and hungry. When we visited that evening, she got up immediately, tail wagging and wanted to escape ! What a spunky lass, a tribute to her resilience and indomitable spirit !

After 2 days recovery at the vet, Kiwi was back at the ARC for her convalescence. She greeted Nancy, the other dog recovering, like a long lost friend and was content to rest and recuperate. Although weak and severely malnourished, true to her nature, Kiwi will limp over, tail wagging, whenever someone came to see her. She is slowly gaining back her strength but her spirit is as spunky as ever and she will growl at her neighbour, a black hunk of a guy named Shadow who seemed to take a fancy to her

Although Kiwi's nightmare may have ended, the road ahead is still long as she has to fight infection from her injury and learn to adapt with 3 legs. Hopefully her confident and affectionate nature will help her find a forever home after a full recovery some months down the road

We are also outraged over the planting of these illegal traps, of which 8 had been discovered and found dismantled after the report from the newspapers and the accompanying public outcry. These traps planted so irresponsibly also pose a human threat as that area is well known for nature treks and fruit picking. We will be filing a complaint with the AVA as well as the Police and hope an investigation will be undertaken.