Copyright © 2014 by Dylan Gangale
The Kingdom of Tonga is not a very good place for dogs. They breed out of control, and Tongans wage a war of terror on them, throwing stones at them and visiting other cruelties on them. Tongans also eat dogs. Last year, when my friend Jack Daniel Fainga'a was killed and eaten, one of the perpetrators was brought to justice. After the court awarded us $2,000, a Tongan wrote:
"If you chose to love a dog in Tonga it's your problem because there's no respect for them and nice looking dogs deserve to be in an 'umu [a cooking pit]. I'm yet to find out who the judge was in this case because he needs to be able to see better than what he thought was right in the case of Jack. The fine was way too much. Jack's value was more than the biggest pig that anyone can buy in Tonga. That's a whole lot of bullshit. I will write the judge and make it known to him that that was a very unfounded valuation.
"Killing a dog to eat is no different from killing a rhino in Africa for their horns and cutting down virgin rain forest in South America to be able to feed the children and buy mosquito nets to prevent infections from malaria. You have plenty of meat in your fridge, we have none. A chance to take part in a dog hunt for bake is much appreciated for us."
The person who wrote this is standing for Parliament in the November 2014 election in Tonga.
Dylan Hunt Gangale and Jack Daniel "Siaki" Fainga'a
Naturally, dogs learn to fear and to hate humans at an early age, and they grow up to become "vicious" dogs. In turn, Tongans learn to fear and to hate dogs at an early age, and to perpetuate the cycle of violence. Every vicious dog was once a playful puppy who hoped to be loved and found hatred instead; a vicious dog is a good dog who has learned evil from humans. This is not good quality of life for either species. God intended better for both; if it is true that He did not mean for humans to know evil, this is certainly no less true of dogs.
Bette Davis Tongilava's wild-eye stare
"All the boys think she's a spy; she's got Bette Davis eyes."
Bette Davis Tongilava was probably born under the house in Fanga where I now live, probably in 2012. I think I know her mother by sight, but Lucy (in the Sky With Diamonds, named by Kalauta) Kupu is feral, although she became Jack's friend before he was eaten. Bette also grew up feral on busy Hala Taufa'ahau, living off of restaurant scraps and loaves cast away from the bakery, dodging cars to cross the road and dodging stones thrown at her out of fear or for sport. She learned to bark and lunge at people who menaced her. She lived in a war zone, and humans were the enemy. She wasn't too crazy about cats either; she often chased Rhade or me under the house or into the rafters.
Lucy Kupu
We are told that Bette's first litter was born and died under a nearby house before we moved to Fanga. After Jack's murder in April 2013, Lucy led Bette to our house, under which she gave birth to her second litter at the end of June. Rhade and I spent a lot of time with them. At eight weeks, four out of six died within two days from contaminated food that Bette had regurgitated for them. Peter and 'Ono rotted under the house, Grilka (the Toddling Targ) and Rex died in our house despite our best efforts to save them, and two survived: Jadzia Dax Tongilava and Denzel Washington Tongilava live with us to this day.
Bette Davis Tongilava and the Sixpack (second litter)
Dylan Hunt Gangale and Geharis Telemachus Rhade Fainga'a guarding the Sixpack
Jadzia Dax, Denzel Washington, and Bette Davis
Geharis Telemachus Rhade, Jadzia Dax, Denzel Washington, and Dylan Hunt
Denzel Washington and Bette Davis
Bette remained elusive while we raised Denzel and Jadzia, diving under the house when she caught humans looking at her, but when she developed an eye infection, she allowed the humans to bring her into the house for short periods to treat her eye. A few months later they cared for her again when she developed a swelling under her jaw. She saw Jadzia and Denzel enter and leave the house freely, she saw that it was a place where she would be fed, and in the course of a few months she went from eating outside the kitchen to eating just inside the kitchen door. When her third litter emerged from under the house at Christmas in 2013, Bette had no objection to the humans gathering them up to take into our bedroom, where the puppies would play on the bed for a time and then sleep. Bette whined outside the door when she wanted to feed them, and the humans would carry them out to her. After a few weeks they were quite capable of motoring around on their own. Ezri Dax Tongilava and Marie Curie Tongilava ventured into the road and were killed. Blaise Pascal Tongilava went to a family in Fasi related to the Tongilavas, and Shorty Rogers Tongilava and Rex 'Ua Tongilava live with the Fainga'a family in Longolongo.
M is for Mohe (Tongan for "sleep")
Bette's Third Litter
Over time Bette became more trusting and ventured deeper inside our house; after all, her children Jadzia and Denzel, now fully grown, came and went as they pleased; but Bette ran out of the house when she thought that a human was coming between her and the open door. In fact, they closed off her escape a few times, which made her frantic and miserable for a time, and then they would let her leave. In time Bette was as free about the house as her children were. Rhade adapted to these changes better than I did; having Bette around the House set my nerves on edge.
Bette now takes long walks around Fanga on a leash along with her children Denzel, Jadzia, and Roxanne. They are the Tongilava Pack. It has become too dangerous for them roam freely as their ancestors once did. Denzel nearly lost a leg when he was hit by a car earlier this year, and in October we had an incident with a drunken and unruly Saturday evening crowd in the field adjacent to our house. Young men threw stones, there were allegations of a child being bitten, the police arrived to restore order…. The Tongilava Pack, which for many generations had free run in Fanga in its quieter days, now languishes on chains on the veranda by day. It's not as bad as it sounds; they are together, they are safe, they are loved, and a human sits with them all day long to keep them company and to keep them watered. They look forward to long walks together, in the safety of their numbers, through the neighborhood of hostile humans and some who are friendly. When they are let into the house at twilight, Bette is the first one to run to the bedroom, as though she expects to be served bonbons in bed.
At night the four of them sleep on the bed along with my cat sister Nie Haisheng Fainga'a, and on especially cool nights I will join them as well. I will admit that I am still wary of Bette. She barks aggressively at humans whom she doesn't know well, and she may present a danger to small children. She still chases me, and I will always suspect her of having killed my brother Rhade, but I believe that it was an accident. In my view, she is, to use Khan Noonien Singh's phrase, "not quite domesticated." Her journey was filled with fear before it was enriched with tenderness, and I don't imagine that she will ever forget her lonely and unloved past in the war zone.
Haisheng dining with the third litter
We expect that Roxanne, who is now five months old, will soon go to live in Kolomotu'a with a first cousin of the King, where she will carry on the line of the Tongilava Pack. Her grandmother Lucy, who was Jack Daniel Fainga'a's White Goddess of the Night, has not been seen for several months now. We don't know what other dogs in Fanga are either the cousins or the progeny of Lucy Kupu, but we go out and walk among them every few days, we befriend them by imperceptible increments, and some of them come to visit us at Koe Fale 'Oku 'Ikai Ha Taha Ke Tolo Maka Ki Ai, The House Where No Stone Is Thrown.
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