Curiosity prompted us to take a jaunt to see the huskies at True Love @ Neverland. I love big dogs, and have a soft spot for huskies, malamutes and wolf-dogs. BUT, for many reasons, I wasn't excited about it. When we got there at the recommended 'slightly before noon' (ticket sales start at noon), there were already people in the queue to buy tickets. By the time 12.45pm rolled around, we were rather stunned to see about 120 people in the cafe, and three-quarters were Singaporeans.
We had to fill out a waiver form and put in contact details. There was nothing mentioned about insurance, because you don't exactly matter. Well, the dogs' welfare is paramount. My head hurt just thinking about the possible lawsuits arising from all sort sof freak accidents. Anyway, the 350bht-ticket on a first-come-first-served basis gets you entry, a complimentary overly-sugared drink and a choice of crappy cake.
Visiting hours are regulated (and updated every other month on facebook), and interaction time is limited to an hour, between 1-2pm, and 4-5pm. There're loads of instructions to follow- no feeding of dogs, no stretching out of the hands for the dogs to sniff and lick, no footwear except for the plastic covers provided, no grabbing of the dogs until they come to us, etc. The instructions are theoretically sound, but some visitors will still try to grab a husky because everybody wants photos. At various corners, handlers gave out treats to persuade the dogs to pose with visitors.
The 23 huskies live in a rather big air-conditioned room out-of-bounds to visitors. There were plenty of fans around to cool the outdoor play area for both humans and dogs. During our visit, the torrential rains brought down the temperatures to a cool 27dC. The sheltered play area is fairly large and sectioned off, presumably for crowd control and to separate temperamental dogs. Some dogs simply didn't look like they care very much for humans. We kept our distance from the dogs and didn't even try to pet them unless they came to us.
I didn't stay for the last bit where visitors were herded into a group to take photos and videos of the huskies merrily sprinting back to their room. The visit left me a little sad. Not sure what to feel about it. Sure, the huskies seemed well-taken care of. Handlers are gentle and sufficient in numbers. The huge compound is spotless. Stared at the huskies' skin conditions, ears, paws and nails, which all looked free of fungus (dunno about mites) and kept clean. They didn't seem too agitated, but so many humans in the area would still stress them. Many kept pacing and couldn't be fully tempted by the handlers' treats.
Have the owners and handlers met mean visitors? Have the huskies gotten so ill and stressed from these visits? What happens when the business becomes unsustainable? Where will the dogs go?
I never know what to feel when I see huskies in the tropics, even when they live in an air-conditioned home. This isn't the awesome Pacific Northwest or Canada where huskies, malamutes and wolf-dogs thrive. Imho, these gorgeous dogs don't belong indoors. When I live in Singapore, I can't just have one because I want to. These dogs can run 100 miles a day. They deserve to be bounding along the rivers and lakes, skiing with their owners and getting out camping in the mountains. That is all.
No comments:
Post a Comment