In the tapestry of human tragedy, there are always the pets.
It is the pets, which sometimes bring home the full pathos of large-scale human suffering.
In the continuing political terror of Robert Mugabe’s Zimbabwe, who can ever forget the14-year-old Jack Russell terrier Squeak?
The body of Terry Ford, the tenth white farmer murdered by the Mugabe regime was found doubled up beside the gate of his home farmstead with his faithful dog curled next to him on March 19, 2002.
Even in death Squeak refused to leave the side of his master, and was with him until authorities bundled the 55-year-old farmer into a tin coffin.
Squeak, who went everywhere with Terry Ford, was with him in the last desperate moments of his life when he was trying to leave his farm in a vehicle.
Ford also had two border collies taken by the SPCA and turned over to friends of the family. But it was Squeak who was allowed to follow the farmer’s coffin up the church aisle behind his girlfriend and family members at the funeral. Of the one thousand mourners at the funeral, including former Rhodesian President Ian Smith, Squeak remained on the lap of Ford’s girlfriend during the sermon. There reportedly wasn’t a dry eye when the devoted little terrier went up to sniff at the coffin before going off to the church garden.
Surely, Squeak, a sort of Greyfriar’s Bobby of Africa, deserves a special place in the recorded history of man’s best friend. It was the unforgettable Jack Russell terrier, which became the defining moment in the broken dreams and uprooted lives of countless farmers being forced off their land even to the present day.
The emotional upheaval of the Zimbabwe farmers and their families must be difficult to lay aside. Forced to flee the country of their birth, destitute and forlorn, the once lively animals of their home farmsteads become pictures to display on the mantels of new homes in far-flung countries.
The calendar has moved from March to October 2002, and the animals of Zimbabwe are still bringing home the full pathos of human suffering to the outside world.
According to The Daily Telegraph, "Robert Gordon’s last task before leaving his native Zimbabwe will be the destruction of the first of 650 former guard dogs.
"Dr. Gordon, 42, a veterinarian, is leaving for New Zealand, unable to take the strain of destroying family pets and horses any longer. For the past six months he has done little but put down the pets of fleeing white farmers.
" ‘I worked in Cumbria (in England) last year during foot and mouth,’ he said. ‘This is worse. I have put down hundreds of family pets and hundreds of horses recently. Some families want to stay with their pets when I do it. Others can’t take it, and leave first.’
‘I have nowhere to bury the animals as I was chased off my farm. So the farmers have to take the bodies away. Sometimes we put the horses down mine shafts.
‘I respect farmers who decide they have a final obligation to their animals, and put them down.’ "
The 650 guard dogs belonged to a security company in Banket, 70 km north of Harare, the capital, which employed more than 400 farm guards but closed its doors because of political unrest.
Gordon would rather use chemicals to put the animals down. Problem is the few vets left in Zimbabwe are putting down pets at such a rate, they have run out of chemicals.
After putting down the first 20 guard dogs, Gordon, who decided to leave his beloved Zimbabwe forever, said he just couldn’t take it anymore.
There’s an eerie silence from the animal rights activists who run rampant in North America and Europe.
That silence is filled with tears, including those of children in faraway hunger stricken Africa. All the children can do is continue to pray: "Please God, peace for Zimbabwe".
Canada Free Press founding editor Most recent by Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years experience in the print media. Her work has appeared on Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com, Glenn Beck. Judi can be reached at: judi@canadafreepress.com
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