A Dog Rescued?

It was nearly a quarter past eleven at night and I was in the front yard to catch some cool breeze as well as to look for any suspicious activity, since there had been a burglary attempt a few days ago, when I heard a dog yelp. I looked around, only to see the poor devil rolling on the ground and surrounded by a few other canines, across the road. "Perhaps the animal is being mauled by some other stray dogs, for having entered their territory without permission", I thought. So, I picked up a stone and rushed towards the commotion. The other dogs had moved away by then and I found the one that had cried out lying on his side, with his neck stuck to a metallic cable, which I soon realised, to my horror, had broken off from a street-lamp pole and formed part of a live distribution line. The dog was, obviously, being electrocuted. He was unconscious and his jaw was contorted into a strange shape, but his stomach rose and fell in rhythmic motion, which indicated that he was alive.

I rushed back home and returned, shortly, with a wooden staff. With its help, I managed to move the dog away from the cable, but his head was still only an inch or two away from danger.

Even as I tried to shift the cable, which looped around the spot where he lay, away from him, the dog came to his senses. Probably because I was the only other living being around, he seemed to have figured out that I was his tormentor and snapped at me. Although I retreated, in an attempt to keep him away from the source of electricity, he tried to move and in the most obvious direction i. e. forward and got electrocuted again.

His body shook violently, even a few moments after I had managed to roll him over and out of harm's way for the second time that evening. Amazingly, he had tried to bite at the staff, even while the current coursed through him and into the ground, which was actually good in a way, perhaps, since it probably kept him from biting his own tongue.

A pair of kind young men on a motorcycle had arrived at the scene by then and pointed their vehicle's headlight at the cable to assist me as I tried to straighten it, to prevent, as far as possible, any others from falling victim.

There seemed to be little that I could do to help the dog any further, especially in view of my lack of knowledge of veterinary science, so I just left it there and went home to ring up the appropriate authorities. As I was to find out later though, electricity department personnel were not that concerned and would only respond to my pleas late next morning.

After I had reported the incident to the municipal corporation, my attention turned once again towards the distressed animal and I went to check on him again. I had located the contact details of an 'animal ambulance' service and hoped to receive some assistance in the form of information, since it already was close to midnight and they would probably not have had any transport available until the following morning. However, the dog was nowhere to be found. I went to look for him again at day-break and there was absolutely no trace of him. Therefore, I surmised that he must have recovered enough to be on his way to wherever he was headed before the cable interrupted the journey.