Figgy’s Reviews > Wandi > Status Update

ALL ABOUT THE DINGO: AUSTRALIA'S NATIVE WILD CANID.

And Wandi knew it in his heart that he was meant to be here. He was important.
All dingoes were important.
His mama, his papa, his siblings and all the dingoes out there.
Dingoes belonged to this land.
Dingoes belong.

He thinks about how some Humans are very kind and would do anything to keep him happy, and he thinks about those Humans who want to kill his family, poison them, shoot them and hang them up in trees to rot. He doesn't understand how one animal can be so different - how each Human is so different. How there is hatred in some, and love in others.
Maybe he will never understand.

I could hear my mama's heartbeat - strong and constant. Always there.
I was connected to her through that beat. It told me everything I needed to know - when to be quiet, when to play, when to hide away and when to be brave. It was there in my dreams, there in my slumber. It was there.

'When I was coming here, I saw dead dingoes hanging from trees. Will that happen to my family?'
'I hope not,' Ebony said, her head down. 'Most Humans do not understand us. it seems like Humans often kill things they don't understand - things they are frightened of.'
'But that's not right,' Wandi said. He felt so useless. So hopeless. 'I hope I can see my family again one day,' he added quietly.

When he peed, they all said, 'Don't pee there!'
When he dug a hole with his paws, they all said, 'Don't dig like that!'
When he chewed the grass because he was nervous, they all said, 'Don't eat grass! What's wrong with you?'
'You do everything wrong!' they said.
He would have given anything to make just one friend.

[2/2]

He tried to copy the others, tried to be like them. If one cup sniffed something, he went over and sniffed it, too. If one chewed a stick, he chewed it, too. He tried to keep up and join in their games. But the other cubs were all bigger than him and much faster. If he caught up t them, they bolted away as fast as they could.

[1/2]

'You don't belong here,' the other cubs said.
Wandi found a grassy corner away from the cubs. He curled up in a tight ball and tried very hard not to cry. After Lyn brought dinner, the other cubs slept together in a box, huddled and warm, but Wandi stayed outside in the corner on his own.
He did not belong here and he would never fit in.
He had no one.

'My name is Lyn,' the new Human said.
He looked up into Lyn's face. 'Are my mama and papa here?' he said.
'I know you must be scared. You must miss your family. But you are here and you are cherished,' Lyn said. 'How beautiful you are.'
This Human was not like the others. This Human seemed to understand him. He looked into its eyes - one second, two seconds, three.
This Human was different.
Lyn.

'Don't worry,' the Human said. 'I'm taking you somewhere safe.'
'Can you take me to my mama and papa?' he asked.
But the Human didn't answer.
They kept on moving and the smell of home was getting further away, his mountain home slipping into the distance. He wasn't going back. He was going somewhere far away and he might never see his home again. He cried then. He cried and cried.