Upon my return to Vietnam earlier this week I faced a dilemma – to save the life of an innocent creature or allow it to face probable death.
It took place around sunset time at Thu Thiem – a large pocket of dense jungle amidst the concrete sprawl of Ho Chi Minh City. It’s one of my favourite spots in the city but like too many green spaces in this city, it’s recently been turned into an enormous construction zone. Albeit one free to access (more or less) for the general public.
After blasting my bike along an accidental motocross track, forged by hundreds of rumbling trucks, I finally found a nice spot by the river. Isolated from people and the consistent drone of urban noise. I sat down on a stack of concrete slabs and gazed over the Saigon River at the jumbled skyline of District 1, the city’s downtown area.
Soaking in the serenity for half an hour or so was enough and I decided it was time to leave (just before the sun did) when I suddenly heard the muffled cry from a kitten…
I looked high and low for the lone cat but the constant sobbing grew weaker the more I searched through the mixed stacks of rubble and building supplies. I knew that this cat must have seen me, or at least felt me here, and it desperately wanted me to see it. The cries stopped just as the evening’s darkness took over it had become almost impossible to see any details in front of me. I had found no kitten and was without a torch.
I thought for a moment about what I could do but soon realised I had little choice. I had to just ride away from that baby, knowing that it would probably die soon…
That location, far from and shops, homes or neighbourhoods was a unique one but it’s not uncommon to come across abandoned kittens in Ho Chi Minh City. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve seen litters living under bridges or in gaps of form-work at construction sites. Piles of trash and cardboard beside festering canals seem pretty popular too.
I occasionally visit these kinds of places as I find them fascinating and good for photography. Often, cats crawl out towards you from under their “homes” to ask for food and beg for your love. Most of them are very weak, undernourished and impossible to give away, let alone find them a home.
All Vietnamese know this and new expats soon realise this too. For most locals, cats serve little purpose and are not valued like the security a dog brings to a home. Hence, litters are too often abandoned and left to fend for themselves.
Most of the time, in many parts of the world, an abandoned kitten’s life must simply be accepted for what it is.
Do I like the idea that many tiny lives are continually cut short? Of course not. But that day I did my best with the resources I had and tried to find that young cat by the river. What I would have done if I found it I don’t know. I couldn’t keep it – I have serious cat allergies. In hindsight, perhaps I could have at least dropped it off in a nicer neighbourhood with more opportunity for survival.
At the time, all I could do was acknowledge the life of that cat, before accepting fate to do its job.
Weird.Wonderful.Vietnam. 