Fortunately for the dog, the timely actions of a delivery rider saved her from a terrible death.

You don’t even have to be a dog lover to feel a sense of outrage that someone would bag up an injured dog like yesterday’s trash, tie the plastic bag closed, and the leave the poor animal to die a slow and terrifying death by asphyxiation. And yet that was just the case at a dumpsite near Kajang on December 4.

Delivery rider Rozaidi Hashim, 50, was waiting to pick up goods for delivery at Batu 12, along Jalan Cheras last Friday when he saw a truck with three men stopping by a dumpsite and throwing out a large plastic bag. Curious, Rozaidi approached the bag and was stunned to find a live dog in the translucent plastic bag.

Unhappily for the culprits, but in a small victory for decency, Rozaidi also noted the truck’s registration number, WTX 444, and a police report was lodged. The perpetrators will hopefully be tracked down in short order.

As for the dog, Rozaidi quickly untied the bag and contacted the non-governmental organisation Malaysian Dogs Deserve Better (MDDB) and requested their assistance. Rozaidi’s quick and thoughtful actions surely prevented an unnecessary and cruel death for the injured dog. MDDB founder Wani Muthiah spoke with Rozaidi and asked that he secure the dog safely while waiting for the MDDN volunteer to arrive. However, the frightened and traumatised dog had other ideas.

“Before the dog could be secured, it limped to a nearby drain and hid itself there,” Wani told Malay Mail as she gave further details on the incident that had already been shared on the MDDB Facebook page.

The female dog was weak and thin, and had suffered a terrible injury to her neck, believed to possibly have been caused by a chain. The timid dog hid in the drain until ultimately, more help was needed to remove her safely.

MDDB said in a Facebook post that one of their volunteers got to the location but could not reach the dog, so she called the Bomba department for assistance.

“The dog has been rushed to St Angel [Animal Medical Centre] and will be admitted there. We suspect this is a factory dog that sustained injury due to a tight chain around the neck,” they said. “The heartless humans must have dumped it like garbage because they did not want to spend money on treatment.”

In another Facebook post, MDDB noted that the dog is severely anemic and has a badly infected wound in her neck. It is believed that the dog was kept tied for a long period of time, causing the wound, which eventually because horribly infected.

Treatment for the dog, who has been renamed Rozi, is expected to take several weeks. Wani explained that Rozi would need to stay at the clinic for at least two months during the long recovery process.

“Once her wound heals, she will be vaccinated before getting her spayed,” she said. MDDB will then put Rozi up for adoption to a good home once she is ready.

In the meantime, animal lovers and others who wish to help in covering Rozi’s medical bills can bank-in to St Angel Animal Medical Centre via its Public Bank (Account number: 3140768212) with the reference MDDB DOG DEC 3. We have done so ourselves, and we encourage others to bank-in even token sums, as it all adds up. Beyond the needs of Rozi at St Angel, other animals are in need of treatment, and anyone who cares for and looks after animals is pretty okay in our books.

A big tip of the hat to local heroes Rozaidi Hashim and Wani Muthiah, along with everyone at MDDB, for extending their generous and caring spirit to the animals with whom we share our planet!

For further details about Rozi, visit MDDB’s Facebook page.