The Nonlinear Library EA - I spent a lot of time and money on one dog. Do I need help? by tobiasleenaert
Dec 10, 2023
07:20
Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: I spent a lot of time and money on one dog. Do I need help?, published by tobiasleenaert on December 10, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.
This is about a personal experience - rescuing a dog on a trip in Mexico - that helped me realize how I wrestle with being effective.
My girlfriend and me were recently in Mexico. After speaking at a conference, we took two weeks off in Yucatan. We had both been aware that we'd meet a lot of stray animals. We knew that this situation could potentially spoil our vacation - which was meant as a break from our daily involvement in animal activism (and thus animal suffering). So as well as we could, we avoided getting too close to any animal we saw in the streets.
That worked, until it didn't. Near the end of our trip, I ran into a quite unhealthy looking dog who was riddled with ticks. We spent half an hour taking the ticks out and by the time we were done with him, we knew we wouldn't let him lie there. I called a few shelters, asking if they could take the dog in, but they were all full. Contacting local activists, we miraculously found a place nearby where he'd be able to stay indefinitely.
We brought him there right away, leaving him in a pen (there were other dogs that needed to get used to him). When we went away, it was with a bad feeling. Later that night, we decided we would pick him up again the next morning (our hotel didn't allow dogs so we had to wait) and would find another place for him.
When we went back the next day, we were told that the dog had escaped. We saw where he had bit through the fence, probably in desperation and fear of the barking of the other dogs. We felt devastated, thinking that instead of helping him, we had put his life at risk. There was a very busy road right next to the property, and the place where we had found him - his home turf - was six kilometers away.
By now we had bonded with this dog - which we called Tlalok, after the Aztec rain god - and mourned for the rest of the day, as if one of our own dogs had just died. We actually had difficulty understanding why this whole situation affected us so much. Maybe it was because Tlalok was such an incredibly friendly, trusting - and at the same time needy - being.
The next day, one day before we'd fly home, we decided we wouldn't give up on him. I made a Spanish "LOST" flyer that we copied in our hotel and then distributed in the village where we'd found him. The flyer promised a reward of 5000 pesos (250 dollars). We spoke to many people online and offline, contacted vets, shelters and activists…
At one point that day, a vet we were in touch with sent us the picture of a dog that had walked into a hotel where coincidentally a friend of hers was staying. It was Tlalok! We rushed to the village for the second time that day and half an hour later, we felt the relief as we hugged him. We brought him to our hotel and the next night, to a shelter, which was full but agreed to take him in and make sure he got all the necessary care, but only if we agreed to adopt him.
We said yes, not having any alternative solution. We'd figure out later what exactly we would do with Tlalok, but the plan was set in motion to have him fly over to Belgium, where we live.
Four weeks later, we picked Tlalok up at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam - where he arrived a day later than planned so that we had to stay an extra night there. As I'm writing this, he's in our kitchen with our four other dogs. We're looking to have him adopted, knowing that with each day that he's here, it will be harder to part ways.
In the meantime, we also remained in contact with the vet in Mexico and paid her a couple of hundred dollars to spay/neuter Tlalok's siblings and mother.
***
After reading some of this story, which I had posted - with some pictures - on Facebook, an EA friend told me...
This is about a personal experience - rescuing a dog on a trip in Mexico - that helped me realize how I wrestle with being effective.
My girlfriend and me were recently in Mexico. After speaking at a conference, we took two weeks off in Yucatan. We had both been aware that we'd meet a lot of stray animals. We knew that this situation could potentially spoil our vacation - which was meant as a break from our daily involvement in animal activism (and thus animal suffering). So as well as we could, we avoided getting too close to any animal we saw in the streets.
That worked, until it didn't. Near the end of our trip, I ran into a quite unhealthy looking dog who was riddled with ticks. We spent half an hour taking the ticks out and by the time we were done with him, we knew we wouldn't let him lie there. I called a few shelters, asking if they could take the dog in, but they were all full. Contacting local activists, we miraculously found a place nearby where he'd be able to stay indefinitely.
We brought him there right away, leaving him in a pen (there were other dogs that needed to get used to him). When we went away, it was with a bad feeling. Later that night, we decided we would pick him up again the next morning (our hotel didn't allow dogs so we had to wait) and would find another place for him.
When we went back the next day, we were told that the dog had escaped. We saw where he had bit through the fence, probably in desperation and fear of the barking of the other dogs. We felt devastated, thinking that instead of helping him, we had put his life at risk. There was a very busy road right next to the property, and the place where we had found him - his home turf - was six kilometers away.
By now we had bonded with this dog - which we called Tlalok, after the Aztec rain god - and mourned for the rest of the day, as if one of our own dogs had just died. We actually had difficulty understanding why this whole situation affected us so much. Maybe it was because Tlalok was such an incredibly friendly, trusting - and at the same time needy - being.
The next day, one day before we'd fly home, we decided we wouldn't give up on him. I made a Spanish "LOST" flyer that we copied in our hotel and then distributed in the village where we'd found him. The flyer promised a reward of 5000 pesos (250 dollars). We spoke to many people online and offline, contacted vets, shelters and activists…
At one point that day, a vet we were in touch with sent us the picture of a dog that had walked into a hotel where coincidentally a friend of hers was staying. It was Tlalok! We rushed to the village for the second time that day and half an hour later, we felt the relief as we hugged him. We brought him to our hotel and the next night, to a shelter, which was full but agreed to take him in and make sure he got all the necessary care, but only if we agreed to adopt him.
We said yes, not having any alternative solution. We'd figure out later what exactly we would do with Tlalok, but the plan was set in motion to have him fly over to Belgium, where we live.
Four weeks later, we picked Tlalok up at Schiphol Airport near Amsterdam - where he arrived a day later than planned so that we had to stay an extra night there. As I'm writing this, he's in our kitchen with our four other dogs. We're looking to have him adopted, knowing that with each day that he's here, it will be harder to part ways.
In the meantime, we also remained in contact with the vet in Mexico and paid her a couple of hundred dollars to spay/neuter Tlalok's siblings and mother.
***
After reading some of this story, which I had posted - with some pictures - on Facebook, an EA friend told me...