Organised rescue of the Gozo 'cave dog'

I was astonished to read the letter by Dani MacDonald entitled Unfair Criticism Of SPCA (July 11). This letter concerned the rescue, by my family and I, of the cave dog and its killing by the Gozo SPCA.

A lot of things were said by members of Gozo SPCA on blogs, press releases, etc., all with the intention of glorifying the action of Betty Berry when she killed this wonderful creature whom we grew to love and who showed us great trust in the hours it took for the rescue to be concluded.

We gave the dog food (we always have a stock of dog food with us because of our own dog) and drink which may have been the reason why she did not eat in the little time she spent in the hands of Gozo SPCA before being killed. Civil Protection took the poor animal to Mġarr where it was handed to Gozo SPCA. I gave them enough time to make this trip before I phoned up Ms Berry to enquire about the dog and to reaffirm my previous intention to help financially. In fact I was still in the cave area at that time.

I was surprised and disappointed when Ms Berry started criticising me because I got Civil Protection involved and did not contact her directly. For the record, Civil Protection were involved by the police after I phoned the number for an animal ambulance, so I did no wrong. She admitted that the dog had already been killed.

Even though a lot of comments were passed by the Gozo SPCA clan, not one of them acknowledged the fact that my family and I went out of our way to rescue this beautiful creature. No one commented on the fact that we showed civic duty or complimented us on a rescue that was well organised and effected.

Having cared for a number of dogs myself, including one diagnosed with sand fly, all my family are well versed in this disease. We kept a lovely dog alive and happy for nine years after being advised by our vet to put her to sleep. The rescued dog was certainly underfed and thirsty, considering the time she spent in that cave, but she had no open wounds on her feet and body and showed no evidence of pain, therefore her sand fly could not have been so acute.

With regards to the expense of curing the dog, I had made it clear to all those I spoke with that I was ready to pay.

The Civil Protection insisted on taking the dog to Gozo SPCA because, they correctly said, it was found in Gozo. However, I had already arranged with Noah's Ark of Mellieħa to take the dog over and, had that been the case, it would not have been killed but cured. It is certainly not fair that Ms MacDonald stated things in her letter of which she has no knowledge. She should have asked me if I was ready to pay for this dog's treatment rather than stating that I did not offer that, something which in fact I did.

Ms MacDonald's offer to visit Gozo SPCA to see their many beautiful healthy dogs actually worries me because it is a fact that in life, health and sickness go together. So what do they do when a dog is sick? Do they give it the same permanent cure given to the "cave dog". Is that why they only have healthy dogs? I hope this is not the case.

I dared to criticise Gozo SPCA, and for that I have been punished with unkind and unjust words. But I would rescue any unfortunate animal all over again, and speak the truth even at the risk of once again becoming a target for the Gozo SPCA. One thing is sure though, I will never deliver any other animal to them unless I am reassured over and over again that this sad story will never ever be repeated.

I now consider this matter closed.