200 dinars for a dog's life

This is Klempa. She was once an abandoned dog, roaming the streets hoping to beg a piece of bread, a stroke, one kind word. That was almost four years ago… She made the rounds of her neighbourhood and always waited for me at five in the afternoon by my father's building. I brought her food and always one Euroblok biscuit. I was not in a position to take her in when I met her. She was taken in by people from the neighbourhood. They had a yard and Klempa was more or less safe. But she always somehow managed to escape at the time I came to visit my father. She hung out with a little dog called Đura, with Lepa, a black abandoned Labrador, with Lepa's children… all of them were successfully rehomed, and Klempa stayed there, in that street, in her neighbourhood, in one yard. I did not look for a home for her because the people said she now had her own home… And then, all of a sudden, she disappeared.

I came to my father's at the usual time, but Klempa was not waiting for me in front of the building. On the way home I looked along the street, she was nowhere to be seen. I did not want to go to the neighbours she lived with, maybe it was better if she no longer ran away looking for me. The next day the same thing happened. She was not there. Nor the day after. I went to the neighbours she lived with. They told me that Veterina Beograd had taken her. But also something else, devastating to me: “Let her be.”
I could not forgive them for that. No!!! I will find her.
“Give me her chip number.”
“We didn't chip her.”
“EXCUSE ME???”
How do you find her among a crowd of dogs that you are not even allowed to see? How do you find her by colour when there are crowds of tricoloured dogs? How do you find a floppy-eared dog when there are crowds of floppy-eared dogs? How do you find her when they will not let you into the shelter?
For days I looked at the photos of dogs posted on the Veterina Beograd website, searching for her… She was not in a single one.
On 1 August 2013 I saw her in a photo!!! In a photo from the shelter that was right next to where I live! There she was, there she was alone, abandoned by all of us! I did not let her spend one more hour in the shelter. I went to get her! The shelter echoed with barking. I shuddered at the barking, at their whimpering, at the pain you could feel in the air, because who knows what sad fates all of them there have. There were gorgeous ones, take your pick. I had come only for her. For my Klempa! I had no way of saving another soul. My conscience gnawed at me because I know how many of them stay behind those bars. They brought her out to me, or rather dragged her out on a lead wrapped around her neck. Pulled tight. He dragged her along the ground… she was bloody from the bites of other dogs. I burst into tears at the sight, knelt in front of her, hugged her… she moved her tail, just a little. And then I spoke, barely… my throat tight with pain: “My Klempa!”
I will never forget that moment. Her sudden leap straight at me, her whimpering… which was really a cry for help. Her life cost 200 dinars. HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY FOR THE DOGS YOU BUY?
Although I own another 10 dogs, Klempa is the one who holds the place of honour in my heart. She searched for me for years, and I did not understand!!!
Today she is 6 years old. Every 1 August we celebrate her birthday. She has her friends she lives with, Azra, Vukica, blind Maki and Laki whom she looks after, Čarli, Beban, Ćirko, Klea, Riki, Badi, there are also two rescued rabbits, a crowd of neighbourhood cats and dogs, and very often she meets the dogs I bring her, who very quickly find their new homes… But first of all she has us, she has her people who love her unconditionally. And I am sure she loves us more than herself. She knows what we did for her. She respects and values it, and repays us with her selfless and unreserved love.
She deserved to have our Association for the Protection and Rights of Animals named after her. Because all those who are abandoned, left behind, thrown out, forgotten, unfortunately carry a part of Klempa's life in their own lives, and every one of them is “KLEMPA”.
So, as you read this, think about whether there is a Human Being in You who wants to save a life!

Don't buy, ADOPT AN ABANDONED DOG!!!
Author: Jelena Dragutinović