Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Story of Bao at Salamat Shelter
Bao is Waray for Tortoise
Waray is one of the dialects spoken in the Philippines

We do not know Bao’s gender as of yet. April 2012, in front of Salamat Shelter, I saw Bao on top of an empty wheelbarrow with a hole, the size of a dime, on the side of its shell on which someone had tied a twine and at the other end of the twine was tied to the leg of the wheelbarrow so as to prevent Bao from wandering or escaping. I did not think much of Bao since it was owned by somebody and it was being fed. I just could not believe how it was being restrained or kept.

I left for Laguna to help with the pitbulls rescued from dogfighting and was away from the shelter for 2 weeks. When I went back, Bao was gone. Nobody could tell me what happened to little Bao.

Many weeks passed, I have forgotten about Bao already when I was approached by a man peddling a little Bao. I told him that it might be illegal for him to be selling Bao, that it could be against the law to captivate them. And then, I noticed the hole on the side of its shell so I pressured him to tell me how he got the Bao. He told me that a couple of kids were playing with the Bao and throwing stones at it so he picked it up and asked for anyone interested to buy it. Someone told him that there is a crazy lady (they meant me) that has a shelter for animals that maybe would buy it. He came by and offered the Bao for 20 pesos if I was interested. Of course, I couldn’t say no.

We kept Bao in a cage for fear of it disappearing. Just last week, one of the caretakers at Salamat shelter made Bao a little house. The little house is placed inside the cage and I am told that Bao likes it and would go inside the little house when it wants to hide.

Take a look & see.
Bao go in the house to hide

Cozy - needs blanket

Hello there!

Bao's house need painting. Any volunteers?

No comments:

Post a Comment