Fluffy rabbit story

VulcanSpirit
Richard & Alison Brunstrom
Sun 13 Oct 2013 13:16
In the now dim & distant past when I was working for a living I was regularly driven to despair by the propensity of what passes for the news media in the UK, and particularly the press, to prefer a pathetic human interest/cuddly pet story over real hard news whenever they could. They were convinced that it sold papers, I was convinced that people actually wanted real news. But now I'm retired I can do my own pet stories. Here is one.
We've recently visited Ile Casy (named after a French admiral), a 45ha island in the Baie de Prony at the southern end of Grande Terre - the main island of New Caledonia. It's a nature reserve, and very beautiful. There was a small hotel but it's closed. Very cruelly, when the owners left they abandoned their dog who is now the only inhabitant of the island. Here he is, standing by the cairn at the top of the island:
 
 
I've no idea what his name is, but he is very friendly and like all dogs everywhere loves to have his ears scratched. He lives in the derelict hotel, and every day he walks across the island to meet visiting yacht crews on the beach as they arrive by dinghy from the anchorage. He greeted us on the beach, then proceeded to lead us around the island, taking us carefully down each path. He would stop and patiently sit down if we showed signs of lingering, and if we stopped while he was ahead of us then after a few moments he would turn round and come back to look for us, again waiting until we were ready to move on. We have subsequently discovered that he is a local celebrity; someone comes to feed and water him regularly as he's in good condition, and he gets lots of visitors - but not every day and far fewer in the cyclone season, I expect. Dogs are pack animals and need company, but although we were sad to leave him (one of us very sad indeed, and harbouring plans of dogknapping) he seems happy enough for now.
There, wasn't that poignant? Far better than reading about Syria or Libya or Egypt or the US Congress.