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KABUL (Afghanistan) — Malcom
Garcia, a reporter whose column appeared in the Seattle
Times on Sunday, was in no position to be rescuing dogs while
on assignment in Afghanistan. But like so many dog-lovers with a
vulnerable soft spot (these people are easily distinguishable by the
perpetual collage of multi-colored dog hairs on their clothes), he found a
way to make it happen.
Mr. Garcia and photographer Peter Andrew
Bosch were in Kabul covering the war when they happened
upon a sight both pitiful and infuriating. In a market square,
crowds of people were shouting out their bets over a brutal cockfight,
which was just the appetizer before the dog fights were to begin.
Nearby, a small, white puppy cowered in a trash can.
A puppy was used as bait in Kabul's dog fights. "Keeps the dogs
interested," says the old man. (Photo:
Peter Andrew Bosch / Knight Ridder Newspapers)
Mr. Garcia writes:
"An old
man grabs the puppy and tosses it toward a muscular brown dog, which is
stopped short of attacking by its chain. The puppy freezes, legs
splayed. The man tosses it back into the barrel.
" 'Keeps
the dogs interested,' he says. 'Makes them want to fight.'
"... The
puppy whines, scratching the sides of the barrel.
"I pick
it up. It snuggles against my coat, sneezes. I slip it into my
pocket."
The American journalist knew that it's
hard enough for foreigners to get rugs and souvenirs out of the country,
much less a sneezing, wriggling bundle of dog. But he decided to
worry about the consequences later, realizing that sometimes reason has to
give way to necessity.
Mr. Garcia's simple explanation is:
"In a country that has seen far too much death, every life is dear." |
Dog fights had been banned for five years
under the previous government, but following the Taliban's recent
dissolution, dog-fighting has come back in fashion. (Read The
Scoop Jan. article "One
Good Reason Why Dogs
Miss the Taliban".) It was a miracle that the pup was
taken away from that doomed existence.
Mr. Garcia describes how the the grateful
four-week-old pooch was covered with fleas, ticks and other bugs, and so
the reporters decided to give him the rather uncomplimentary but fitting
name "Maggot". (You'll be happy to know that Maggot was
later renamed "Harvey".)
For days, the malnourished pup refused to
drink, spat out his food and grew thinner. But with constant care
and attention from a legion of reporters, Maggot finally made a
turnaround. That was miracle #2; next, they had to figure out how to
smuggle the pooch out of the country.
 At one point, things looked so bleak for
the dog that the reporters considered having him shot if they were unable
to sneak him out. "It's better than abandoning him to the
street," writes Mr. Garcia, "where he would starve to
death." (Photo: KRT / Knight
Ridder Newspapers)
On Feb. 21, Mr. Garcia got into a car
bound out of Afghanistan. Maggot slept soundly in the man's lap,
unaware of the tension and anxiety surrounding his escape. There's
no telling what magical forces may have been at work when an aide at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs graciously "looked the other way"
and approved one tiny dog's ticket to freedom.
The unidentified aide simply commented:
"Something should get out of this damn country. This is the
luckiest dog in Afghanistan."
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