A DOG NAMED KABANG

This is the true story of a very brave doggy heroine who lives in the Philippines.  Her name is Kabang, which means "spotty" in the Visayan language.  In December of 2011, Kabang saved two young girls who were about to get hit by a motorcycle, but when she did that, Kabang herself got hurt very badly.

The Rudy and Christina Bunggal found Kabang when she was just a little stray puppy, and they made her a part of their family.  The Bunggals fed their puppy milk and porridge, even though they are poor and only make about US$3.50 a day.  Kabang loves playing with Dina, the Bunggals' 11-year-old daughter, and sleeps with her at night.

Anyway, one day in December, Dina and her 3-year-old cousin, Princess, were hanging out together near Mr. Bunggal's shop, and they decided to cross the street.  Except that they didn't notice a motorcycle that was coming really fast towards them.  But Kabang saw the motorcycle, and she ran out and attacked it head-on to keep it from hitting the girls.  If it had hit them, they would probably have got hurt or maybe even killed.  But the only thing that happened was that they fell down and got some bruises.

The man on the motorcycle also got a little bruised, but Kabang wasn't so lucky.  Her snout went up over the top of the front wheel, and stuck there.  Then when the motorcycle fell over, Kabang's upper jaw was torn off.  The people who saw the accident ran over to help, and they pulled Kabang loose, but she ran away, and no one could find her for two weeks.  The family was afraid their heroic dog had gone off someplace to die.

But then Kabang came home again!  The city pound staff asked Mr. Bunggal to bring the dog in so they could put her to sleep, but Mr. Bunggal refused to do that.  "It does not matter if she's ugly now.  What is important to us is she saved our children and we cannot thank her enough for that."

A little while later, Kabang got pregnant, and she had a litter of 6 puppies.  Sadly, she is in danger of getting a bad infection or bone fungus because her face is a big, open wound.  She has to take antibiotics every single day to stay healthy.  There is no one in the Philippines who can do the kind of surgery Kabang needs to rebuild her face.  The Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital of the University of California in Davis is willing to treat Kabang, but it will be very expensive.

When the story of Kabang started getting out in the news and on Facebook, people began to donate money so that Kabang could go the the U.S. and have surgery.  Dr. Anton Lim, a veterinarian in the Philippines, is caring for Kabang right now, and he says it will take at least $20,000 for transportation costs and then for the surgery.

Kabang with the Bunggals' grandson.
Photo by Anton Lim/Tzu Chi Foundation

By September 1, only $4,300 had been raised, which was a long way from being enough.  But then, guess what!  A lot of people must have given a bunch of money, because on September 14, the group Care for Kabang announced they had reached their goal of $20,000.  They also said the costs might be more than the amount they raised, so if people still want to give, they are welcome to do that.  Any extra money will be used for unexpected expenses and for Kabang's future medical care.  Anybody who wants to donate can go to www.careforkabang.com   And there is also a Facebook page.

So that is the story of Kabang and the family she loves.  It is kind of a sad story, but we hope it will have a very happy ending.