The Bad Dog

It was a sad sound, a dog yelping piteously from somewhere in the jungle.  Most likely he was caught in a trap.  I would have been sadder if the dog had been of good character, but he was not.  He was one of several renegade dogs who regularly plunder the garbage pits of Bongolo, scattering trash all over the beautiful hillsides.  He also kept the missionaries awake at night howling at the moon.  Worst of all, the dog was aggressive, charging those who tried to scare him away.
     Paul Davis, who takes care of Bongolo maintenance, finally had enough of this dog and went after him with a gun!  The dog somehow eluded Paul, leaving him to pick up all the trash, day after day.  Until the day the dog got caught in a trap in the jungle, and gave himself away with his howling.
     I heard the dog howling from somewhere in the jungle between my house and the Thelanders' house, and I remembered a trap I had seen there.  I happened to see Paul and mentioned to him that I knew where a trap is, and that maybe the dog was in it.  He called the African workers and Josh, a short term worker, and they all followed me to the trap in the jungle.
     The howling stopped as we neared the trap, and I wondered if maybe the dog wasn't there after all.  Then I saw him, his front paw caught in a wire slipknot, wedged between two crossed sticks.  When the dog saw Paul with the gun, he barked angrily.  I put my hands over my ears and looked the other way as Paul aimed and fired.  The dog died instantly.
     I felt a little badly leading Paul to the dog, facilitating the dog's death.  Usually I am an animal lover, as my brothers would testify.  I guess I could have gone down there by myself and tried to cut the dog loose somehow, (as a child I would have) but he was aggressive, and I'm not sure he would have let me get close to help him.
     He probably would have needed medical care, but there is no animal hospital hereabouts.  And he would have needed to be tied up all the time to keep him from coming back to Bongolo, getting into the trash and menacing the missionaries.  Sigh.  Poor dog.