Sweet home: Foxy, a Chihuahua mix, settles into her new foster home in Jakarta, after she was rescued 4 kilometers from Merapi’s peak. Courtesy of Susan Gilbertson While the Merapi Animal Rescue team was feeding the macaques around the Tlogo Putri mountain area resort, they noticed a small dog wandering around. A hot ash cloud moving toward the group meant the workers had to leave immediately. Without thinking twice, a team member quickly grabbed the Chihuahua mix and brought her back to the base camp for treatment of parasites and a tumor.
“She was pitiful to see,” said Karin Franken, a founding member of the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN), when the Chihuahua mix was brought to their Jakarta office. Rescuers named her Foxy.
Meanwhile, Maya, a Siberian Husky from Condong Catur, had a different tale.
She spent all seven years of her life in a small cage, and was left behind by her fleeing guardians who said they were tired of caring for her. The rescue team found her malnourished and sick, and put her in their care back at base camp.
Both dogs have recently arrived in the capital for a better life, and while Maya and Foxy settle into foster homes in BSD and Kemang, animal welfare advocates are hoping to place them eventually in permanent homes.
However, it is not the best timing for the 11 rescued canines from the Merapi disaster as the coming Christmas holidays will mean families are going away or otherwise caught up in celebrations.
“It’s quite a slow time of the year for adoptions,” said Franken. “But we are trying our best to find homes for all the other dogs in Jogya, and if we can re-home them there, that would be better,” she said.
Despite the trauma the dogs lived through, Foxy’s foster care guardian Susan Gilbertson reported the dog was adapting well to her new environment in Jakarta.
“She is a great little dog and she is eating really well as she recovers after having a large tumor removed from her tummy. We really hope we are able to find her a good, loving, permanent home, which is what she deserves and needs,” Gilbertson added.
Following the Merapi disaster, the atmosphere around the office was buoyant from the successful rescue effort and effective collaboration of the aid agencies.
“It’s good to have some happy endings because we deal with a lot of misery on a daily basis so the good stories keep us motivated and give us our drive to take on more,” Franken said.
— JP/Maria L. Kegel
To learn more about adopting a canine friend, send an email to info@jakartaanimalaid.com and view an adoption list at www.jakartaanimalaid.com
