Man’s best friend to the rescue

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines—The cousins Dina Bunggal, 11, and Princess Diansing, 3, might have been seriously injured if not dead had it not been for a dog owned by the former’s family.

Dina and Princess were crossing Nuñez Extension here on December 14 apparently unaware of a speeding motorcycle.

As the motorcycle was nearing, to the horror of witnesses, Kabang, the Bunggal family’s “aspin’’ (Asong Pinoy or mongrel) emerged from nowhere and jumped on the path of the motorcycle.

She obviously shielded her two young masters from harm, Jovito Urpiano, a 33-year- old tricycle driver who witnessed the incident, told the Inquirer in an interview last Wednesday.

Urpiano said he was having lunch at a roadside eatery and witnessed the entire incident along with several other people.

Kabang’s head landed directly on the motorbike’s wheel, her upper snout and teeth caught in the spokes of the turning wheel, Urpiano said.

“I thought somebody threw the dog at the motorcycle but I could not see anyone who might have done that,” he added.

Urpiano said it occurred to him later that Kabang intentionally blocked the motorcycle’s path to spare the two girls, who suffered bruises when they stumbled as they moved away from the motorcycle.

The driver of the motorcycle, who was unscathed, rushed them to a hospital.

Kabang was later plucked off the wheel of the motorcycle.

“The bones holding her upper snout were crushed and we could not do anything to save it. We just pulled her off the wheel,” said Rudy Bunggal, 57, Dina’s father.

Rudy works at a nearby vulcanizing shop and also saw how Kabang saved her daughter and niece.

“Because we could not get her out of the wheel without severing the upper snout, I…  got a knife and sliced through the broken bones,” Rudy Bunggal said.

After she was freed, Kabang ran as fast as she could and was missing for two weeks.

“She is pregnant,” Rudy Bungal’s wife Christina said.

When she finally returned to the Bunggal family, the pet looked much different from before, she said.

But for the Bunggals, her looks do not matter.

“She is a hero,” Christina said.

Rudy said Kabang’s act might have been triggered by her closeness to their daughter and their niece.

He said he found Kabang as a puppy near their house and took the mutt in.

“We raised her like she was ours. We gave her Bear Brand (a popular brand of milk) and porridge,” Rudy said.

Christina said that as the dog grew, the family fed her the same food they ate.

“We did not mind if she was an addition to our expenses. We regarded her as part of the family,” she said.

Rudy said the two girls always played with the dog.

“They even sleep together,” Rudy said.

He said Kabang had no history of wandering outside the house. “That was why we could not believe she went out when she sensed danger for the girls,” he said.

Dr. Anton Lim of the Tzu Chi Foundation, a veterinarian, said Kabang’s act of saving the girls from harm showed that she was grateful to the family.

It was also possible, he said, that the two girls were imprinted on Kabang as Alpha males.

Lim has been helping Kabang recover from her lost upper jaw.

Recently, he gave Kabang antibiotics so her wounds would heal faster.

“It does not matter if she’s ugly now. What is important to us is she saved our children and we could not thank her enough for that,” Rudy said.

Kabang is still able to eat but now uses her paws to do that.

She has since regained her playfulness with  Dina and Princess.