Puppies in search of owners

By Udena R. Attygalle

I was speaking to Carole, while Sophie tugged at my sleeve. Nirmala finally settled down close beside me, while Soma, Veena and Kusuma sat beside Carole. Meanwhile, Cashmere cuddled up on her lap. If you are puzzled, let me explain: Sophie is a huge Siamese, Cashmere a furry Maltese dog, Carole and I humans and the rest lovable Sri Lankan mongrels.

Carole Bugier is a globe-trotting Frenchwoman working as the head of the Foreign Languages Department at the Overseas School in Colombo. She was born in Casablanca, Morocco, married in Los Angeles and worked in Kuwait.

"I was born to the poorest of the poor in Morocco. I saw a lot of suffering; I can't stand to see suffering," she says. And that maybe the reason she has taken 17 dogs and six cats under her wing.

The first of the lot was Rosy. She was three years old then and pregnant, but all the pups were stillborn. And then the list started growing. Stray pups on the nearby roads found shelter and comfort with Carole and her trusted helpers Soma and Wasanthe. Incidentally, most of the dogs are named after people Carole knows; so there's a four-legged Soma and Wasanthe as well! Only Wasanthe and Sherlock, the local Romeo who just comes to the house to eat and play are male, the rest females.

So how does she manage them all? "We have a system," says Carole. "The daily routine starts at five when the nearby temple starts its bana.

"The pups who have the guest room all to themselves and the cats who occupy the sitting room, together with the rest get their milk (it adds up to 12 litres a week).

And then all of them have a very lazy day till noon when they have a feast of chicken soup and Basmathi rice. And if they want a snack any time of the day they can tuck into the dog food brought specially from France and placed at strategic spots around the house.

Where do they sleep? "Half of them with me in my room and the rest with Soma in hers," Carole answers. But her kindness to animals seems to have aroused mixed responses from neighbours.

Her three newest puppies Peaches, Shanuki and Bambina were all literally thrown over the fence into her compound on three consecutive Sundays.

"People know I'm home on Sundays and that I won't send the dogs away, so they take advantage," Carole explained.

Dorothy, a beautiful young dog, had to be revived from a coma after a neighbour's gardener had thrown her over the wall like some inanimate object.

The neighbours had also complained, first to the house owner and then to the school about her collection of strays. The school which had rented out the house on Carole's behalf had no choice but to move her to another.

Carole recalls, "On the day when the owner came to visit, Daphne (one of the dogs) who was pregnant broke her water on the settee right in front of the owner!" She's going to give birth, the shocked owner had cried out.

But then this mini-zoo did cause a lot of damage in the early days. Chewed-up furniture and rugs were common. The young pups also were not house-trained (a lot of pi pi and ca ca, as Carole says). Carole is now at her new residence. But her future is uncertain, as a result of her Good Samaritan activities.

"Although the school has been very patient with me, they may be forced not to renew my contract in June," she says. And where will all the dogs go if she has to leave? Carole hopes to find good homes for all of them.

"Please don't mention my Dacshund and my Maltese because I'll get a hundred calls from people asking about them," she says.

She remembers how after a classified ad, she had many inquiries about Alsatians and Pomeranians. "I told them I have only good healthy Sri Lankan dogs."

Readers interested in adopting one of her lovable dogs, can call Carole on 074- 402783 in the evenings.

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