The Spirit of Volunteerism

          It was an eye opening experience for me and my friends who visited the Furry Friends Farm. It was my first time to be a volunteer. The farm is located in a secluded corner and it took almost 1 hour 30 minutes to get there from Petaling Jaya. Upon our arrival, we were pleasantly greeted by the friendly barks of our canine friends. All eager and excited to meet us, they were jumping up and down wagging their tails, all in the hopes of getting a pat on the head and perhaps even a hug. There are 150 cats and 250 dogs. Most of us are first time to saw a huge number of dogs and cats in the shelter.

The entrance of Furry Friends Farm.

       As we interacted with Uncle Mun, the leader of the farm, we came to realize how huge of a responsibility he carries by managing 150 cats and 250 dogs in total with limited number of volunteers from time to time. His patience and loving passion towards the homeless animals is definitely something that should be highlighted. 

       Our first activity was to feed the cats, and we paid close attention to how they would take turns to eat their meals in a group without fighting each other unlike some street cats out there. Besides, we also try not to give too much attention to particular cats, especially those which are more aggressively behaved so as to not cause them to fight among each other. In contrast, there were also some cats which were very introverted, coming out from hidden corners for food only after each cat had theirs, or hiding away when approached. Then, according to Uncle Mun, were once victims of physical and mental abuse by their previous owners. Although we were unable to enter the cage, we saw how Uncle Mun handled them with leadership skills, despite being roughly swarmed by them, which is the way dogs show their affection rather than being harmful. One particular dog, which lost his left eye sight were very active and let out instead of being kept in the cage since it would escape the cage every time.

     Another special highlight is Rajoo, the one and only goat which grew up with the dogs since young and his dog-like behaviour.

 

He is Rajoo, the 'dog-goat' who was rescued by Sabrina Yeap when he was 2 months old and about to be slaughtered. He was called the dog-goat because he eats dog kibbles, sniffs other dogs' bottoms and hangs around with dogs. He doesn't eat grass and surely doesn't know how it tastes like.

        Many volunteers come from all over the state of Selangor and Penang. Some of them are come for every weekend just because of their incredible passion and love for these homeless dogs and cats. 

       From this experience, I have learnt the spirit of volunteerism from other volunteers. These homeless dogs and cats are needs our helping hand. Give these poor dogs a chance to live. Don't ever try calling the local council or private dog catching companies to catch them. You are just giving them death sentence. They certainly deserve to live and share this world with us.