Not long ago a remarkable canine has entered the spotlight in
the flood-ridden central Chongqing Municipality. Her touching maternal
love for her newborn pups has brought her acclaim, according to a
Chongqing Evening News report on August 1.?
Recent torrential floods around town trapped four newborn
puppies on Coral dam which was transformed into an isolated islet.
Yet the loyal canine mom didn't leave them to starve. Every day,
she plunged into the river, struggled across to the islet home of
her helpless whelps and suckled them. Afterwards she again swam to
the mainland to hunt for food for herself. Although she was
separated from her brood, the dog steadfastly continued her daily
struggle to feed them for almost a fortnight.
Huang Pinghui, a member of the Chongqing Shadowboxing
Association, first spotted Huahua's brave act. Usually he works out
by shadowboxing in Binjiang Park and then swimming across the
river. But in mid-July, rainstorms pelted the town and caused the
river to rise. Coral dam originally had been accessible on foot but
because of the unremitting rainfall it had separated from the land.
This small land mass became Huang Pinghui's rest stop when he swam
across the river.
On the afternoon of July 27, Huang found the whelps in a
temporary shed while resting on the islet. The surroundings held
hollow bricks and trees, but no food.
Huang could not figure out who had brought them to the islet and
how they had survived without any discernable food supply.
On the second day, Huang returned the islet again with some
friends. They found the puppies sound asleep but shortly afterwards
the mystery became clear.?
A dog was swimming from across the river. Arriving, she sprinted
for the temporary shed. Her full breasts suggested that she was
indeed the puppies' mother. Clearly she had come a long way to
suckle her babies. The mystery was solved: in the daytime the
mother searched for food on the mainland and then returned at night
to the islet to feed her brood.
Huang was so moved that he posted the dog's actions on the
Internet, where it caused a hullabaloo. Readers nicknamed the
mother dog Huahua (flower) and learned that she used to live on a
cargo boat until her owner sold it. Abandoned, Huahua became a
stray dog.
Some netizens offered to help the dog, but Huang refused their
aid, stating, "The pups' mother may feel anxious and threatened if
strangers came too close."
Nevertheless many warm-hearted people bought a profusion of food
to feed Huahua to ensure her maternal health.
?
One afternoon on July 31, Huang entered the shed with the
Chongqing Evening News reporters but could not locate the
puppies. Alarmed, he shouted: "They must have drowned in the rising
flood waters!"
They searched the entire islet. Finally they found the dogs safe
and sound amid a pile of hollow bricks at a higher elevation. The
puppies were snuggled up to their mother's breast, sucking
happily.
Intuiting the imminent rising tide, clever Huahua had sensed
danger and transferred her puppies to higher ground for fear that
they would be swept away.
"It's not easy at this point to find safe shelter for the
puppies. It's better to leave them on the islet right now," Huang
explained, "When they grow older, we'll find them a safe and cozy
home."
(China.org.cn by He Shan, August 4, 2007)
