From 'adventurous day' to 'looking for Bay'

As mentioned in some articles, I am working on a film, Charlotteville Tails.

On a recent visit to Charlotteville, I encountered a brown female street dog with a wounded left ear. She is hard to miss – old and sad-looking, lying around, her head leaning to one side under the weight of her infected ear.

Thankfully, Dr Annika Gordon, a veterinarian based in Charlotteville, examined the ear, cleaned out the maggots and attended to the wound as needed.

Last week, my number was given to an English tourist who needed assistance with the same dog. She and her husband, visiting Charlotteville, had seen her and were worried about the state of her ear which, by now, had become more swollen and was infested with maggots.

I directed them to Dr Gordon, who advised that urgent surgery was needed – namely, a pinnectomy, a surgical procedure in which a dog’s ear- flap is removed.

As a clinical setting was required for the surgery, we needed to catch the dog (named Bay) and take her to a veterinary clinic. So, early on the morning of February 1, I set off with a friend and a dog crate in my vehicle, to meet the English visitors at 8 am in Charlotteville.

While waiting to spot Bay, who was nowhere to be seen, we enjoyed some delicious cocoa tea from Miss Riba’s Delights and I filmed some footage.

Bay eventually appeared, and my friend, the English visitors, some men from the village, and I attempted to capture her. However, she disappeared. Disappointed, we left the village and headed homeward.

As my vehicle approached the bar across the road from the Speyside lookout, I noticed steam emanating from the bonnet. Having never had overheating issues with my vehicle, I wondered if something had gone amiss during the radiator man’s process of flushing it out the day before. The bar was not yet open, but after a call-out to Tony (the owner), we were soon sitting and chatting with cold drinks, waiting for the vehicle to cool down.

Thank God for Colfire’s Road Assist Service! For a mere $100 extra to my insurance payment, I have access to wrecker service three times per annum. That day was my fourth time using it in a few years. I was informed by the pleasant woman on the phone that it would take 60-90 minutes for the wrecker to come from Scarborough.

At least we were waiting in a pleasant establishment with an amazing ocean view.

While Neil, a craft vendor from the lookout, whisked my friend away to teach her about screw pine weaving, I stayed chatting with Tony. I was starving (having had only two portugals and Miss Riba’s cocoa that morning) and asked if he happened to have anything I could buy to eat.

“No, but my wife is cooking,” he said. “You can get some.”

Shortly after, my phone rang. It was Kunta Kinte, a man from Charlotteville, excitedly telling me he had caught Bay. I instantly called Dr Gordon, asking if she could drive up to meet me in Speyside, collect my crate and take it to secure the dog. As luck would have it, she was just leaving Speyside to head back to Charlotteville and was able to take me, my friend and crate back to the village to collect Bay.

On our return to Tony’s bar, the promised food was waiting – white rice, fried rice with egg, curried bodi and fried fish. We were satisfied by the time the wrecker arrived.

Once back at home, I borrowed a vehicle and drove Bay to the Tobago Animal Hospital. As it was late on Saturday afternoon, no one was there, but they had advised that she could be left in the crate on their verandah, with food and water, until morning, when she would be put in a boarding kennel.

When I left her, all was well and she was comfortable.

I did not expect the phone call I got on Sunday. Bay had chewed her way out of the crate and escaped. I am hoping that by the time this is published, she has been caught and can have her pinnectomy.

"Lost" flyers are up; there have been sightings and attempts to catch her. She is swift and evasive, but, thankfully, is staying in the area.

I am looking forward to a positive outcome and being able to return her to Charlotteville all fixed up.

Editor's Note: Bay was captured on Government House Road, Scarborough on February 8. She will be taken for treatment.