Fear and confusion in difficult times
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With stress levels rising, even the soi toads are wondering what's going on
At time of writing, we still don’t know how the waves from the North will affect inner Bangkok.
During the stress of waiting for what will happen, animals themselves seem to sense something bad is coming.
The other morning, I found two toads in the patio of my second floor. I don’t know much about toads, but I can recognise fright and confusion even on a toad’s face.
“What am I doing here?” one toad seems to be thinking.
You shouldn’t touch a toad with your bare hands. The excretions from the toad’s skin are toxic to human skin. I nudge the wanderers into a bucket and take them down to the soi, where they skitter away.
They don’t seem so happy, though. Water levels are rising.
Dogs and cats, so much closer to us and our lives than toads are, don’t quite understand why we’re putting down sand bags, building barriers and moving stuff to higher floors, but they’re not happy.
My poodle pup Wan-Wan stares sadly at the barrier near my front door. No longer can she run out to the gate to greet passers-by nor get to her favourite peeing spots.
In a panic while the workmen are building the barrier, soi cat Thep runs into the house before I can stop him. I decide to let him stay inside, just to see how he behaves himself.
He’s pretty much okay. Even my white lady Mekhala, who normally attacks him if he enters the house, leaves him alone. The only problem arises when Thep and my Siamese boy Yoyo exchange some bad language.
“If you don’t stop yelling at Yoyo,” I tell Thep, “I’ll throw you outside.”
Perhaps Thep realises that my house doesn’t need to be a war zone for feuding felines. Perhaps he’s just relieved that he has a safe place to sleep. He finds a comfortable spot and keeps quiet for the rest of the night.
The next morning, he greets me politely, but as soon as I open the front door, he dashes outside.
Easily jumping over the barrier, he climbs up the side of the gate and begins checking “his” soi. He’s desperate to ensure that the strange cat who has been trying to take over the territory knows that the “owner” has returned.
If the little soi floods, what will Thep do? Will he be able to adjust to being an inside cat for awhile, or will his instincts force him outside into the water?
Thep and his friend Thong are semi-feral. They’re not afraid of me, but let any other person come near, and they’re dashing away in any direction they can.
At Wat Suan Kaew, not all the animals have yet been rescued.
Thousands were living in this compound before it was inundated. Rescuers have been able to help cats and dogs who were used to people, but many of the animals were feral.
Difficult to approach in the best of times, these cats and dogs may not be able to survive unless the humans they fear can catch them.
