Goodbye, Zumbo

On Saturday, June 1, one of our unofficial "porch dogs" was killed by two unknown men in the fields on the outskirts of town.   After a vocal altercation (growling and barking),  Zumbo was bashed on the head with a rock the size of a orange.  He died two hours later.

Zumbo on March 2013

As far as dogs go, Zumbo (ZOOM-boo) was an awful specimen.  He was scarred and old and dirty,  twitchy and rigid and clearly abused.  He hated people and he hated other dogs, passing most of his time in corners and slinking along fences.  He was a known chicken-killer, and was generally unwelcome throughout the neighborhood.

Strangely, though, he was Bwino’s best friend.  From the time that Bwino was two months old, Zumbo and Bwino were inseperable.  The two dogs napped together, wrestled together, and hunted together.  Bwino was soft and fluffy and hopeless at catching chickens.  Zumbo was dangerous and largely successful. 

I never saw Zumbo be friendly with any other creature besides Bwino.  Zumbo hated Dan, he hated me, and, more than anyone else, he hated Seni and his original family-owners.  He eschewed all humans and, in general, all other living things.  It seemed that he put up with Piro (our other porch-dog) only for the sake of being close to Bwino.

I tried to be kind to Zumbo, but he was too wary.   Never once did he let me touch him or even get close.   He was a tense and ghost-like presence, living on our property. 

Then, on Saturday, he was dead. 

In some ways, his death was a relief.  Zumbo was a danger to children and a real liability.  He left chicken carcasses in our yard and growled at neighbors from our porch.  He made people nervous.  On the other hand, though, Zumbo was to be pitied.  He was an unloved dog, and one who had been unwanted for the entirety of his life.  He never really stood a chance. 

Best friends:  Zumbo and Bwino

NOT friends:  Zumbo and Piro

Like a ghost on the property:  Zumbo in the background

So that’s the end of Zumbo.  I don’t know how to feel. 

Bwino, for his part, has barely seemed to notice.  I suppose that that's the way of it, for dogs.