For the Love of Dog

Three-hour tour nothing. An incredible mission was undertaken earlier this week when the Hawaiian Humane society, with support from the national society, initiated a a $50,000 mission to save a dog left on an Indonesian tanker after a dramatic rescue at sea saved only the humans.

I love animals, but I still find this only a bit shy of wacky.

It reminds me of the case of Leo, the little poodle who was thrown into oncoming traffic during a road-rage incident in L.A. While missing persons cases went cold and murder investigations dragged on, an entire city — and much of the nation — went bonkers over Leo's death. His "fund" eventually grew to $120,000, and the man who tossed him got the maximum sentence of three years. (This in contrast to another case a few weeks prior in the same city in which 27-year-old man was killed in a road rage incident. His murderer got nine months (including credit for time served).

That brings me back to Forgea, the dog on the ship. The $50,000 mission (for which they've raised $30,000) was unsuccessful. Or so everyone thought. Until reports of a mysterious, unidentified ship seen drifting in the ocean revived hopes that the tanker didn't sink, and that the dog — now ten days on his own, if he's alive — was still alive. And so they want to go out again.

Meanwhile, we lost track of the people on the same boat. (Either that, or that's some slow service at the Waikiki Denny's.)

Comments

I remember that tragedy with the poor dog! It happened here in SF (or around here), and people were donating so much money because they felt sorry for the poor, helpless animal. It's shocking how giving people are around here when it comes to animals.

Ok guys, remember:

If I ever get lost at sea, my name is Spot. All right?

Well, leaving aside all those who feel like money could be better spent (hey, it's the Humane Society; it's their money and their contributors, OK?), why not?

If I'm lost at sea, send me the new "indestructible" sandwiches, please, along with a raft and GPS and locator transmitter.

The thing I find more disturbing, which I forgot to say up there, is that after the INS idiocy sending passports or whatever documents they sent to the dead hijackers, you'd think they'd be on the qui vive about keeping track of illegal aliens.

Sadly, our kneejerk reaction is often associated with what the price of something is. Yes, $50,000 is a significant amount of money to me and you. But if we aren't willing to spend the money on protecting animals, then why have the Humane Society at all? Besides, an act of humanity shouldn't have a price-tag attached to it. We call it the HUMANE Society for a reason, don't we?

Here's a question for everyone posting on this thread: Has anyone here forgotten that someone was murdered on that boat by his own crew, and that those murderers may or may not be part of the existing band of so-called fugitives who just got away from our own custody? Where, pray tell, was the humanity in THAT? Compared to how our government is handling this murder, the livelihood of the murdered man's dog while it's lost at sea is damn near inconsequential, but no less important.

Don't get me wrong, I think that the Humane Society is a worthy cause, and any and all high costs that they incur for themselves and their organization are somewhat justified. The problem here, however, is not COST, but PRIORITY - if we've got more people looking for a single dog at sea than we have for half a dozen men who couldn't be even brought to court for their own shot at a fair trial - and, yes, I think that they might as well be held responsible for the dog's life on top of the captain's - where's the justice in that?

Certainly, it's their money, and they can do with it as they please. (The Hawaiian Humane Society is one of the few groups our family makes an effort to contribute to every year - and we almost got their license plate thingie too.) Some folks buy Lexus SUVs, or giant lawn gnomes out of solid platinum, so sure, $50,000 spent to save a dog by an animal welfare group sounds downright reasonable in comparison.

But, I think some perspective would've helped. Like with Leo, visibility or unusual circumstance might make news, but it shouldn't guarantee a higher value of life - any life. Think about how many currently endangered dogs and cats and animals $50,000 could feed. Or, even better, how many free spay-and-neuter operations it could pay for? For the life of one abandoned dog (and forgoing the unfortunate jokes one might make as to the expected fate of a dog on an Indonesian boat anyway) - let alone putting more people out on the water and thus more lives at risk - I think a lot more good could have been done... even within the narrow realm of animal issues.

Not that these issues don't come up with humans, either. Witness the whole 9-11 Red Cross fund flap.

(And, to be fair, it was the crew of the Norwegian Star that refused to take the dog aboard, much to the dismay of the now-missing Indonesian tanker crew.)

::WARNING: Inappropriate comment ahead.::

...forgoing the unfortunate jokes one might make as to the expected fate of a dog on an Indonesian boat anyway...

Yes, and with a Chinese crew.

Eh, not all dog-meat jokes are about Filipinos, you know. ;)

::End of inappropriate comment.::

Stella, that's what I was trying to say in my add-on comment. Let the Humane Society do its thing; the INS has really screwed up, and it dismays me to see it so recently after the passport to hijacker flap. That's one of those "what were they thinking?" episodes. They should have every able-bodied person on staff out looking for these guys.

It's true that it's their own money and they can spend it as they wish, but I'm still baffled as to why they chose to rescue this dog?

I don't think it's worth the price tag and I think the same level of "humanitarianism" should go towards resolving our homeless problems.

What if this is just one big publicity stunt?

I hate making me-too posts, but I think Ryan's points are more topical to the matter at hand.

The Humane Society spent $30,000/$50,000 of its own money for the rescue, and since I don't contribute to the Society, I don't feel the need to demand a justification for expending those kinds of resources on just one dog. And yet, even from the perspective of a non-contributor, that kind of fundraising looks way disproportionate.

The issue with the AWOL immigrants can't really be compared to the rescue of a dog. The INS faces issues that $50,000 won't even begin to fix.

I'd probably make more of a ruckus if the feds or the state dropped the $50,000 on the dog instead of searching for the boatmen.

Update:
Dog Spotted Alive on Crippled Tanker

Great. Now we've made CNN.

And the Austin Municipal Credit Union UPI news feed. I was standing in line at the bank today, tapping my severance, and I looked on the television monitors that flashes AMCU ads along with useless bits of trivia and little news bits. The tanker was one of the stories featured.

That dog has gone as far as Texas, dammit.

Made it to NPR's Morning Edition and NBC's Today show, too. Last time that happened was probably the Ehime Maru.

Well the jokes on us, now that it's the taxpayers $$ who's paying for this search...

Update to this very old thread: The dog, whose name is actually Hokget, is "a month from freedom," and still basking in attention.

Henry Kapono has in fact written a song about the rescued canine. And after a "special reception" for his release from quarantine on Kauai on Aug. 30, he'll come to Honolulu to join his new family, the family of Michael and Helen Kuo (local friends of the tanker captain).

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