What about the Dogs?

My husband just lost his job and I am worried about my dogs. I suppose this only makes sense to dog-lovers, and maybe not even then...

We live on an island where dogs run free on the streets, in the fields, on the beaches - basically wherever they can find food. They are mangy, malnourished, mistreated and seriously in-bred. And there are at least a hundred new ones each day it seems. You just have to look at our neighbour's dogs for a perfect example. They have one female who has a litter of puppies every time she goes in heat. She doggedly walks the neighbourhood with her head hanging and her two shoulder blades forming sharp peaks in her fur, which hangs off of her bones like an dirty white sack. She is desperate for food for herself and for her endless series of puppies.

Four years ago, when we first moved here, she and her pack of male offspring owned the neighbourhood. They lay in wait for unsuspecting pedestrians, who they would race out and attack to the sound of much screaming and barking. They would strut up the road past all the fenced-in dogs, making the latter attack their fences in a frenzy of territorial fervour. Pepper and Wei Ming would race up and down our wall, leaping up, sticking their heads through the holes in the decorative blocks and tearing at the chicken wire with their teeth. Then the street pack would come right up to the wall and leap up to meet the heads emerging from inside. If a barking war could kill, at least one of them would be dead.

Now we only see the female. Every street dog around gathers around her when she is in season. Fights break out constantly. Each dog wants his turn and will attack as soon as the current dog is at a disadvantage. She just droops there, waiting until she can move on. She is hurt more often than not because she cannot leave when two males start fighting on top of her. The resulting puppies die within a few weeks - hit by passing cars, starved, killed in dog fights, perhaps eaten? As the mother searches for food, neighbourhood dogs chase her in their mission to guard their territory. She runs just far enough and then drags herself off to the next place to search.

From this life, we rescued two of our dogs - Pepper and Ranger; a friend gave us Wei Ming. As soon as we could, we neutered them. They have regular shots, worm medicine, baths, oh - and food. We take them to the vet when they are sick and we treat Ranger's hereditary mange (she is very in-bred) whenever it patches her fur. My husband plays fetch with them, our son wrestles with them, they wrestle with our toddler (much to her disgust), and they roll over under my feet whenever I go outside so I can pet them. They take their guard duties very seriously, barking at anything that moves day or night. The only time you will not see or hear them is when they must flop down and pant in the heat of the day (or when it is bath day). Ranger is a hunter and faithfully brings a dead rat to my kitchen door at least once a week. Pepper greets us each time we come home by bringing us one of his toys and dropping it at our feet as a welcome-home gift. Wei Ming is faithful only to us and will not go near anyone else.

Now there is a good possibility we must leave the island and we cannot take them with us. The options are to try to find good homes for them, take them to one of the two humane societies, or put them down. Good homes are hard to come by. Those people who treat their dogs well either already have too many dogs or only take pure-bred dogs. One of the humane societies is full and not accepting any more dogs. The other may have room, but then the dogs must stay in cages until and if someone comes to adopt them. And what assurance do I have that those someones will be good to them? Then there is the killing option. Is it right to kill three dogs in perfect health because they might suffer later? Is it possible to purposefully end the lives of three faithful, trusting hounds?