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Kokua Line June Watanabe |
Tale of abandoned dog
has a ‘Sweetie’ endingShe was a familiar figure around Tripler Army Medical Center -- a mangy, flea-infested, woeful creature who wouldn't let anyone near her.
Still, she touched the hearts of people who worked at Tripler, some who tried vainly to capture her, many who regularly fed her.
To all those people and to Kokua Line readers who first read about her on Dec. 14, 2000, Betty Kamida wants you to know that this once nameless, frightened little dog, who survived years living on her own, has finally found a home.
DENNIS ODA / DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM
Betty Kamida plays with Sweetie, an abandoned dog who ran wild around the Tripler area for several years. After six weeks of coaxing, Lt. Col. Teresa Parsons finally was able to rescue Sweetie and find a home and proper medical care for her.
It took the perseverance of several caring people to save this once lost soul. But she now faces surgery for hip and knee problems and that's where she still needs the help of strangers. This is her story:
Three years ago, a reader contacted Kokua Line, expressing concern about the "inhumane treatment of a dog."
The dog, he said, had been around Tripler for at least five years. Its hair was all matted and it looked like it was starving. But it wouldn't let any human get near. The reader was frustrated that he couldn't get military authorities or the Hawaiian Humane Society to try to capture the animal.
We wrote then that this was a case not of inhumane treatment, but more of the kindness of people who tried to take care of a "wild" dog. It also revealed the emotional dilemma of people trying to decide what was best for the dog.
After looking into the situation, Dennis Morris, with the Fort Shafter Military Police, said it was decided to leave the dog alone, because it was not vicious, not bothering anyone and not starving.
The alternative, he said, was that, if captured, the dog would probably be put to sleep.
"If we're interested in the welfare of the dog, we should just leave it alone," Morris said then.
The Hawaiian Humane Society said it did not respond to requests to capture the dog because it was on federal property, but it did not believe it was in the dog's best interest to leave it alone.
"As an animal welfare organization, we have concerns about its quality of life -- with almost no human contact, no other animals, no one to provide care if it gets sick or injured," spokeswoman Eve Holt said at the time.
That was the last we heard of the dog -- until last week, when we received an envelope with Kamida's touching story of her rescue. The dog who wouldn't let anyone near her just months before was shown in photos cuddling with Kamida, her husband, Clayton, and foster "mom" Lynn Oakley.
Kamida, a part-time paralegal and one of the movers behind the yet-to-open Moanalua Dog Park, had been a volunteer in the American Red Cross Human Animal Bond Program at Tripler.
One day last year, as she was taking her dog, Moses, to visit patients at Tripler, she was approached by Mickie and Tom Mason, who told her about a stray dog. Although a friend was feeding the dog, the Masons were distressed because it was obvious the dog needed more than food and water, Kamida said.
They showed her where the dog mostly lived: under a trailer near a construction site.
Kamida called the Humane Society, and was told it knew about the animal, but that people were feeding it and were not interested in turning her in. For the Humane Society to help, she said, the military police would have to capture her.
Kamida contacted MPs, and was told they would look into it. Meanwhile, she and the Masons continued to seek help. She despaired of finding a solution until last January, when she found out about the Animal Care Foundation.
Veterinarian Sabina DeGiacomo, president/CEO of the foundation, replied to Kamida's desperate e-mail.
"If we could bring the dog in to her, Dr. DeGiacomo would provide medical help and find a home for her," Kamida said.
DeGiacomo told her to contact Lt. Col. Teresa Parsons, then head of Tripler's OB/GYN Nursing Course.
Parsons, now stationed in Kentucky, told Kokua Line via e-mail that she has long been an animal welfare advocate and as soon as she saw the dog -- whom she called "Angel" -- she felt compelled to help.
"I went out every day for about an hour to get her to trust me," Parsons said.
It took her more than six weeks to coax the dog into a cage, "but the look on her face when she realized she was really safe communicated as clearly as if she'd spoken words," Parsons said. "She is an adorable, loving dog and a perfect story of what happens when people come together for the well-being of animals."
The rescue was in March. The dog was taken to DeGiacomo's clinic, where she was given blood tests, flea treatments, baths and a microchip. Her skin was infected and almost half her hair was gone, Kamida recalled. She scratched constantly and limped.
"She was extremely timid and shivered if people she did not know came too close."
But she was gentle and obviously had once belonged to someone because she was neutered, housebroken and could walk on a leash. Under her matted, red-dirt-stained hair, she had worn a faded pink collar.
Part-terrier, the dog is about 8 to 10 years old. Kamida gets teary when she thinks about how she had probably been alone since only about a year old.
DeGiacomo found a foster home for the dog with Oakley, who named her "Sweetie" because "she's just the sweetest dog." When Sweetie came to her, she couldn't even lift her tail, but Oakley's loving attention led to a miraculous transformation and the Kamidas offered Sweetie a permanent home.
However, after only two days, she ran away. It was a traumatic 11 days before she was found in a ditch at Fort Shafter and rescued by military police and Honolulu firefighters.
Since then, she has settled into domestic life with the Kamidas and Moses, one filled with lots of hugs, car rides and a comfy bed anywhere she wants to plop down.
"Sweetie has only been with us since July of this year, but she has brought a lot of joy to us and we are determined that the rest of her life will be a good one, especially considering all she has been through," Kamida said.
But she continues to have a lot of medical problems. It will cost an estimated $3,500 for her upcoming surgery in November, which will be done by an orthopedic specialist from California.
Sweetie needs to have her left knee redone because of torn ligaments. Because of a dislocated left hipbone, "the tip of that has to come off" to decrease pain and also to correct the imbalance in the leg, which constantly aggravates the knee, DeGiacomo said.
Anyone wishing to help may write a check to the Animal Care Foundation, marked "Sweetie's medical surgery," and sent to P.O. Box 4406, Kaneohe 96744. DeGiacomo described the 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundation as an "no-kill, animal rights and rescue advocacy organization."
Whatever extra that may be collected beyond the cost of surgery will stay in Sweetie's account, DeGiacomo said. Call 941-2452 for more information.
As Kamida said, we "hope you find Sweetie's story inspiring in these not-so-inspiring times we live in."
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