Partners in crime: the story of Nomad

Two days ago I was at the Simabo clinic with Nomad hanging out.

A person brought in their dog to have a treatment for fleas and mange, during this time she asked me in broken translated English ‘why is your dog so well behaved?

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How do you get him to sit?

How do you get him to give you his paw?

The answer was simple… Respect.

You build a relationship based on mutual respect, happiness is formed on both sides of the leash from this simple act.

Sometimes we find ourselves over analyzing decisions in life; asking ourselves questions like ‘what if”, ‘but what happens when?’.There are times when you need to push these questions to the side and just do what we feel is right. This is what happened on an average Thursday in Mindelo.

We had just finished another stint with Sea Shepherd doing anti poaching work in the Archipelago of Cape Verde, our ship was back in Port for the winter months, to do repairs and work on the ship. In this time myself and a few of the crew started volunteering with local animal rescue shelter and clinic Simabo in our spare time.

If your reading this you will know that the greatness of their work and that it cannot be put into words, they are everything thats right with the grassroots animal rights movement.

They are pushing the boundries daily in West Africa and are literally writing the blueprint for how change can come for street dogs and cats in this part of the world.

Over the course of a week I saw Nomad everyday, at this point he was just known to me as ”little fella”. He was a cool boy, young, shy, anxious but had this charm about him. Like most he had lots of mange, he was covered in ticks and fleas and was very skinny.

At first he wouldn’t even let me touch him. In the last 2 days of this week Nomad was out everywhere with me doing ship errands, slept outside the marina and then came on a 6km run with me.

He was exhausted but didnt once fall more than 3 metres behind me. The next day he was there again.

I headed back to the ship, grabbed a piece of rope and went back to see this scruffy little street pup.

He jumped up, with his tail wagging and nuzzled into my legs, I made a slip lead with the piece and rope, put it around his neck and took him back to the ship.

He pretty much slept for the next 3 days straight, it was probably the first time for a long time he had peace to sleep like this. Training Nomad has been difficult, simply because hes just so sensitive to emotion.

Most street dogs will tell you where to get off if you show them any discipine, and rightly so. Nomad just absorbs everything.

About a month had passed when Ravi, a worker from simabo said he knew this dog and that he had picked him up from the governments ‘to kill’ shelter before we had rescued him. Luckily Ravi had gone and seen Nomad and a few others and took them and released them back on the street.

black dog simabo

This is the problem here, the governments response is always to round a few of the worst looking street animals, kill them and make it look like they are dealing with the problem.

The bottom line is they are not, they are merely a dust covered dullness to the issue at hand. Nomad had been neutered before we rescued him.

This means that at one time he probably had a guardian, but 9/10 what happens is puppies are bought here for a Euro (literally), they grow a bit bigger, loose their ”cuteness” and people put them on the doorstep and forget about them, this is the norm, there’s no stigma attached to it.

The majority of these dog and cats get hit by cars, starve, fight with other animals, live at the hands of abuse by humans, either way it all ends in sadness and route of the problem is never addressed.

Don’t get me wrong, there are a few who have an incredible life, roaming free, on their own or in small packs, but they are few. Like I said before, sometimes you just have to commit, the sadness I see in these street dogs faces every day is enough. It wasn’t the right time for me to adopt a dog, but there wasn’t a decision to be made.

Now I just need to alter my life in a way that supports this little guy, its not difficult, it just means giving a little here and there. I feel super lucky to be with a women who also devotes her life to helping the weak and not even questioning the decision to take Nomad.

I write this story with a key undertone, I ask that you never buy a dog from a breeder again, if you are buying because you want the perfect pet, that it has to be the precise breed and look a certain way, then you are doing everything wrong. If you want happiness, adopt one, do not give money to the very people who are creating these problems.

Humans have created this problem, and although you may not have been part of that, you have one choice that puts you with them or against them. With every dog we buy, we are creating one more life in the breeding program of profit.

Any breeder who says they love dogs and that’s why they do it, are either uneducated, haven’t seen the other side of the fence or the money sign sits higher, more than likely its the latter.

black dog simabo

We created the monster that is animal breeding, its up to us to change that collectively. Although Nomad gives me endless happiness, that was never the drive, my happiness comes everyday seeing him at ease, seeing him have a safe place to live, knowing he doesn’t have to live on scraps from trash, knowing the cowards who get a kick out of hurting dogs cant touch him, this is true happiness.

We know the right thing to do, we know how to solve this street dog problem, the rest is up to us, individually and collectively.

We are not powerless, every time the government lays poison, every time they kill a healthy street dog, we are saving them, we are adopting them, we are sponsoring them, we are marching for them, we are putting ourselves between the abusers and the animals … protest their methods with action and positive choices.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been threatened or tested by people here for getting between them and the animals they are abusing, I will accept the consequences every time, I stand for the weak.

They said we could never by angry yet happy at the same time, how wrong they were!! I’d like to end this by saying thank you to Simabo, for the chances and freedom you give so many. – in 3 months Nomad will start a new life in England.

For more information please visit the adoption page and the sponsor page.

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