What happens when the pack doesn't have enough food
For the most part dogs in a pack don't actually want to hurt the other dogs. There are of course exceptions but there is a certain amount of prudence that exists in the psyche of dogs. This changes once competition is introduced and one of the main things that there can be competition for is food. This can be a real problem for strays who are not regularly fed by anyone and things can get violent. In these situations the weaker males are normally the ones that suffer the most and a recent case of precisely this was pointed out to us at a beach area by some tourists.
This poor soul has a ton of problems and it is made worse by intense malnourishment due to being bullied by the other members of the pack who won't give up any of their food so that "Pirate" can eat as well.
When images of "Pirate" were sent to us we immediately jumped into action to intervene. While friendly, Pirate still stayed near his pack despite the fact that he is basically denied any food that the pack finds. Tourists would give Pirate food but because of the trauma that he has faced in the past he is basically afraid to try to eat.
To make matters worse, he is blind in one eye and has an injured leg presumable from a fight with one of the other male dogs in the pack.
He spends most days hiding in this closet and staying away from the other dogs as much as possible since he is constantly bullied by the other males. This is unfortunately the way that things work in dog packs when there isn't enough food to go around. The more dominant males will take all of the food for themselves and leave nothing for the others. Pirate is too weak to seek out his own food and would have almost certainly died soon had these tourists not pointed him out to us.
Despite this harsh life that he has experienced so far, he was actually very friendly and easy to get into the crate for transport to the veterinarian office. Once there we discovered that he is also suffering from a variety of parasitic infestations and also is anemic.
We have already begun treatments for all of his ailments and are carefully getting him back on food, which even while alone, he is afraid to try to eat. It takes a lot of specialized treatment to return a dog this abused back to normal and once he has recovered, I don't think that we will be able to return him to the pack because it is very likely that the entire process will simply repeat itself. We don't know why this happens to certain dogs and not to others, because the other 2 males of the pack seemed relatively healthy and not malnourished.
We are reaching out to the local community to find him a forever home but if that doesn't work out I might just open the doors of my own property and take him on as his own if my dogs will have him.
This is a truly tragic case but we are very grateful to the tourists who pointed him out to us since the beach location where Pirate was living is so remote that we almost never make our way out there.
if you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
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