It was about 1:00 in the afternoon. I was sitting outside on the khonde (kon'dee), marking exams.
Susie and Twyla, the twin dogs, suddenly jumped up and ran to look over the edge of the little hill in the backyard, growling and barking. Then James went running, throwing rocks at something that was moving along the wall near the gate at the bottom of the yard.
The two dogs ran toward James and then Susie attacked the intruder. It was a monitor lizard. She grabbed it by the neck and held it down. Then Susie picked it up around the belly and packed it up to the top of the yard. I thought she might be bringing it to Mum to show off what she'd done! But instead, she dropped it for her canine mum, Sarah, to inspect. Susie headed straight to the open office door to lie down.
The lizard was breathing still, albeit slowly. All the dogs went over and sniffed it, but none seemed least bit interested in finishing it off.
Arnold told James to go and get a shovel. James first pushed at it to see if it would run. When it didn't, he picked it up and packed it out of the yard.
I think that this monitor was probably the same one that I saw running through the maize outside our yard about a month ago. Arnold says that monitor lizards don't bite. They attack with their strong tail. They eat eggs. He heard of one that ate 21 eggs!
His own dogs killed a green mamba the other day. The snake bit one of his dogs, causing its leg to swell, but it recovered. I have not seen a single snake since that day at the school, by the way. I think Susie and the 6 other dogs have something to do with that.
And I hope it stays that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment