The Dog on the burning deck inspires the world
HONOLULU, SEOUL, TAIPEI, BANGKOK Rescuing just one little two-year-old Taiwanese female mixed-breed terrier named Hokget from the burned-out drifting hulk of the Indonesian fuel tanker Insiko 1907 cost the Hawaii Humane Society, Humane Society of the U.S., private donors, and the U.S. Coast Guard as much as $185,000, spokespersons acknowledged after the seagoing tugboat American Quest brought her into Honolulu.
That was almost twice was much as the additional $100,000 cost of towing the Insiko 1907 back to Hawaii to prevent an environmentally catastrophic oil spill, and was more than twice the total investment by all U.S. organizations combined last year on other campaigns to help Asian dogs.
International Aid for Korean Animals, the largest organization focused on dog-and-cat eating, raised $115,498 in fiscal 2001 from a combination of U.S. and European sources. Other groups working to reform the treatment of dogs in China, Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines raised much less, as major U.S. charities showed continuing deep reluctance to help fund campaigns within Asiaespecially after the post-September 11 fundraising slump.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare, the most active U.S.-based funder of Asian projects, declined to help underwrite a second Asia for Animals conference, despite the huge success of the first conference, which attracted approximately 275 delegates from 20 nations to Manila in May 2001.
But the Hawaii Humane Society and HSUS were virtually assured, well before Hokget reached dry land, that their investment would be recovered, and then some, from sympathetic donors who followed her saga nightly on television. The Hawaii Humane Society had reportedly received $45,000 by the time Hokget landed, including $5,000 from Regina Kawananakoa, who also spent $15,000 on unsuccessful searches for the Insiko 1907 aboard a private jet.
The story began with a March 13 engine room fire aboard the Insiko 1907 that killed crew member Gi Hui Nian, burned out the entire superstructure, and left the ship adrift, without power and without communications, for 18 days. Alerted by a flare and a signal fire that the desperate crew lit on desk, the Norwegian Cruise Line vessel Norwegian Star intercepted the Insiko 1907 on April 2, taking off the 11 survivors.
"It looked like a ghost ship," said Judy Matheny, of Bixby, Oklahoma, who thought she heard faint barking.
The captain of the Norwegian Star told the passengers over the intercom that a dog had been left aboard because of the 120-day Hawaiian quarantine requirement, Judy and her husband Mason Matheny told Associated Press later.
When the Norwegian Star dropped the rescued crew members off in Maui, Mason Matheny asked a reporter to inquire if anything could be done for the dog.
"I didn't think anything else about it," said Mason Matheny, an oil field chemical worker by trade. "I just got back on the cruise ship and continued to enjoy my vacation."
But Mason Matheny's question aired on a televised newscast. Insiko 1907 captain Chung Chin Po explained that the dog was his, that he was "very concerned" about leaving her, and missed her.
Her name was mistranslated as "Forgea," a word in Mandarin Chinese that means the same thing as Hokget in Hokkien, the Taiwanese dialect: "happiness, good fortune, blessingall that is good," said Chung Chin Po, gently correcting reporters, some of whom had asserted that the word meant "lucky dog."
Internet activists and callers to talk programs demanded to know why Hokget had not been rescued. A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson claimed erroneously that the crew of the Norwegian Star had not known she was aboard.
As public interest built, the Hawaii Humane Society secured a pledge of financial help from the ever-media-savvy HSUS and chartered the American Quest for a five-day search-and-rescue mission, costing more than $9,000 per day. American Marine Salvage Inc., the owner of the American Quest, donated another $20,000 worth of searching time.
But the Insiko 1907, believed to have been drifting 230 miles south of Hawaii, could not be found. Concluding that the ship and dog must have sunk, the American Quest returned to port. Cynics jeered the effort as a publicity stunt.
On April 9, however, an American fishing vessel spotted the Insiko 1907 by radar, now 400 miles southwest of O'ahu. Prevailing currents seemed likely to smash the wreck still carrying 60,000 gallons of fuel oilinto the coral reefs of Johnston Atoll, critical habitat for several endangered species.
But 11 days of stormy weather passed and two aerial searches failed before a U.S. Coast Guard C-130 relocated the Insiko 1907 on April 20. The air crew saw Hokget. Making the lowest pass they could, they threw her their lunches.
This time the Coast Guard hired the American Quest, to save Johnston Atoll. Saving Hokget was an unofficial part of the mission. In the interim, before the American Quest finally caught up with the Insiko 1907 on April 26, two fishing vessels made unsuccessful attempts to rescue Hokget which reportedly cost their owners as much as $100,000 in lost fishing time. There was a premature claim that Hokget had been rescued, then a report that she fought off her would-be rescuers in defense of the tanker, the only home she had ever known.
"Hokget was only two weeks old when she was given to me," said Chung Chin Po. "I bottle-fed and raised her aboard the Insiko 1907. I was her family, resulting in a unique and special bond. To watch this white furry bundle of mischievious, playful, loving and friendly energy scampering all over the ship brought joy to all. It gets very lonely at sea, and Hokget was a precious and happy diversion, providing great companionship to the entire crew."
As the American Quest approached, HSUS flew staff animal capture expert Dave Pauli to Hawaii, from Billings, Montana, in case he was needed.
Before Pauli landed, however, American Quest diving salvage supervisor Brian Murray, 37, found Hokget hiding among old tires piled in the front section of the tanker. "We knew she was in there," Murray told Will Hoover of the Honolulu Advertiser. "We were trying to make her feel more comfortable with our presence. But it was really hot," in excess of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. "Eventually," Murray finished, "we just had to get her out of there. I grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. She was okay after that."
American Quest cook Palalika Cunningham, 33, made a pet of Hokget all the way back to Hawaii. There, at a brief press conference, Iams gave her a lifetime supply of pet food. Then Kaui Humane Society director Rebecca Rhodes, DVM, took Hokget into custody to serve the 120-day quarantine. After the 120 days, Hokget is to be adopted by Michael Kuo, a longtime friend of Chung Chin Po, who pledged to keep her until Chung Chin Po can return to Hawaii to claim her.
Unlike the millions of Asian dogs who are torture-killed each year for human consumption, and the millions more who are poisoned, bludgeoned, or simply starved in purges of street dogs, Hokget could be saved. Her story inspired donors not just because it included an exceptionally brave, tenacious, and telegenic little dog, but because it included hope that something could be done for her.
Some Asian media criticized as misplaced the American fixation on saving just one dog, at seemingly any cost, with countless humans in poor nations in urgent need of food, medicine, education, and jobs. But others found no fault with the outpouring of generosity.
Editorialized the Taipei Times on May 5, "This story has more to it than just cuteness. Many were quick to point out the American values highlighted by this incidentthe respect attached to all lives, animals and humans alike. After all, this happy ending came after multiple rescue attempts, air drops of pizzas, granola bars, and oranges to the pooch, as well as the expenditure of a lot of money. Animal lovers in the US demonstrated that they pay a lot more than lip service to their beliefs.
"Of course, critics were quick to point out that it seems ironic for the Americans to spend so much money on one dog, when there are many needy and homeless dogs in the U.S.," the editorial continued. "But the real significance in the Hokget saga is not just that one dog's life was saved, but the ease in conscience felt by the public. The argument that all the money and efforts put into the rescue would have been better spent on needy humans isn't convincing either. The argument presumes that human lives have more value, when animals are often much more likeable than some human beings.
"In comparison to the Americans," the Taipei Times editors scolded, "the people of Taiwan should bow in shame about the way dogs are treated here. The number of stray dogs has reached alarming proportions. Reportedly, many are discarded because either they are too sick or are born as a result of pregnancies unwanted by their owners. These problems could easily be resolved by regular inoculations and neutering of dogs. Worse, some people in Taiwan still engage in the practice of feng shengsetting animals free for religious reasons. While they may think they are doing a good deed, in fact they are guaranteeing these animals a miserable life and usually an early and very unpleasant death. Taiwan does not have a culture of adopting stray dogs, so most strays rounded up by government agencies are killed, often in a very gruesome manner.
"Of course, in comparison with the other side of the Taiwan Strait," the Taipei Times noted, "dogs here are virtually in paradise. The practice of dog-eating is a lot more prevalent in China, where the police are reportedly conducting yet another major crackdown on unlicensed dogs. Among the first to be killed were 7,100 dogs rounded up in Shanghai.
"Does this mean the people in Taiwan have any reasons to feel comfortable?" the Taipei Times concluded. "Of course not. China is notorious for barbarism to both animals and humans. Taiwan must do a lot better than that."
For that endorsement of humane values alone, the Hokget rescue could be considered worth the money. Few other U.S.-funded campaigns with an Asian focus have as quickly drawn support from major newspapersbut the Hokget effort was somewhat uniquely directed at achieving a positive goal. It was clearly pro-dog, not anti-Asian.
By contrast, the boycotts of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and other nations called by various groups to protest whaling, dog-and-cat-eating, cruel zoos, and inhumane animal control practices are widely seen as anti-Asian because they hit whole nations, not just the relative handful of mostly older and affluent male citizens who make most of the decisions, collect most of the profits from cruelty, and are the major eaters of whale meat, dog meat, and wildlife.
As the Hokget rescue proceeded, anti-Asian overtones were alleged in connection with the anti-whaling and anti-dog-and-cat-eating campaigns waged to coincide with the mid-May meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Shimonseki, Japan, and the World Cup soccer tournament, which began play in Japan and South Korea on May 31. (See also the page one article "Will wild orca capture and Makah whaling resume on Puget Sound?")
More than 700 Japanese right-wingers marched in Shimonseki on May 19 to protest alleged western racism. Their presence overshadowed the signatures of 1,500 students from eight leading Beijing universities on petitions against whaling, circulated by the China office of IFAW.
IFAW also asked the members of the British soccer team to sign a pledge to refuse whale meat that was reportedly to be offered to them at the Japanese events. PETA won petition signatures from British team members Michael Owen, Jamie Redknapp, and Emile Huskey against Korean dog-and-cat-eating. Viva! urged Owen and British captain David Beckham to discard their kangaroo leather soccer boots, in protest against Australia raising the kangaroo culling quota this year to 6.9 million. But the Australian angle did not get much attention, if any, in Japanese and South Korean news media.
Of greater concern was the announcement of the 150-member National Dog Meat Restaurants Association that soccer fans would be offered free cups of dog meat stew outside the World Cup tournament stadiums, two of whichincluding the tournament home field for the Costa Rican national teamare within sight of the notorious Moran Market in Sungnam, Korea, just south of Seoul.
Extensively photographed by ANIMAL PEOPLE publisher Kim Bartlett in May 2001, the Moran Market is the largest dog-and-cat-meat sales site in Korea. Costa Rica is among the most animal-friendly nations of Latin America. As Costa Rican soccer fans, animal advocates, and news media discovered the confluence, Korean officials tried a whitewash.
"In February 2002," wrote International Aid for Korean Animals founder Kyenan Kum, "the South Korean government publicly announced a major crackdown on dog slaughtering at the Moran Market. In mid-March, however, I was disappointed to find no change."
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation program Foreign Correspondent premiered new video of the Moran Market on May 8. It looked no different from a year earlier. Similar footage soon aired in Italy, South Africa, and other nations, each time sparking protest, including a 40-picket demonstration outside the South Korean embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on May 10, reportedly led by Lillian Steeg of the World Animal Watch Task Team.
As Steeg and friends marched, National Dog Meat Restaurants Association president Park Sung-soo told media he had cancelled the plan to pass out dog meat stew samples.
"We will not go against the govenment's wishes," Park Sung-soo said.
But three weeks later, Park Sung-soo told Guardian correspondent Vivek Chaudhary that the dog meat stew samples would be distributed as originally announced.
After the month-long duration of the World Cup tournament, the dog-and-cat-meat dealers hope for a quick return to business-as-usual. The global media spotlight and international animal advocacy group attention, they expect, will refocus on other issues until 2008, when Beijing will host the Summer Olympic Games. Pro-dog meat politicians have already made clear that they intend to again pursue legislation that would erase the unenforced 1991 ban on the sale of "unsightly" foods. The ban is more an embarrassment to dog-and-cat-meat dealers than an actual obstacle to selling the carcasses of tortured dogs and a broth made by boiling cats alive.
International Aid for Korean Animals, the Korean Animal Protection Society, Voice 4 Animals, and the Anti-Dog Meat Headquarters, leading the indigenous Korean struggle against dog-and-cat-eating, will be left as before, to try to support their organizations and campaigns as best they can.
What the Korean groups need are their own Hokget stories, with the hope of happy endings, to stir Koreans as Hokget stirred Americans and many Taiwanese. M.C.