Sadness, Regret, Shock, Anger...

I'm just writing briefly to let the loyal Malawi 'n Me readers know that I have no other excuse for not writing this past week except for sadness over the loss of our beloved cat Penga last week Sunday evening (April 20). Though my last post on that same evening was quite hopeful, as it turned out, the risks involved after Penga's ordeal that day were greater than I had realized prior to leaving Dr. Mutunga's (a.k.a. the good vet's) office in Blantyre last Sunday afternoon. Apparently, the intestines were paralyzed from prolonged exposure, so in the end, Penga was not able to recover, and died at around 8 p.m. that evening.

I received this information on Monday morning, via a phone call from Dr. Mutunga soon after surviving my court battle over the expired license-plate registration (which ironically went well, resulting in a mere MK 1,000 fine--about 8 bucks-- and about 3 hours' time lost waiting at the police station and the court.).

Ever since, my emotions have primarily shifted between sadness (over our loss), regret (over my trust of that sh-- for brains vet), shock (at the events that led to our loss), and anger (at that sh-- for brains vet).

The overriding emotion now is primarily anger at the lousy excuse for a veterinarian by the name of Dr. Oliver Bakili (based in Lilongwe, but also practicing part-time at the vet clinic in Zomba, as a warning to the Malawian pet owners out there), whose lack of professionalism and compassion, combined with a sloppy suturing job and dishonesty about his small-animal surgical abilities, caused this horrible outcome.

I'm now working on using this anger to get justice by going after the above-mentioned so-called vet for malpractice and negligence. Without going into details (due to the sensitive nature of this case and the public nature of this forum), let's just say the battle is now well-underway.

So now, I'm just asking for all those reading this who care about animals to send good vibes my way, and all those who pray to please do so, in hopes for justice in this matter, whatever you deem that justice to be. For me, it's permanent revocation of Dr. Bakili's veterinary license, or at the very least, a years-long suspension, huge fine, and re-training prior to any continued practice in veterinary medicine.

Hopefully I'll be online again before too long with better news, and some good elephant pix from up north (finally!) Watch for those, trickling in this week, as I continue the post-mourning healing process.

Tiwonana for now...