Written by Dalene Erasmus – Marketing, SPCA Lower South
Bibi had been waiting, sad and confused, at the vet for over six weeks after his family had been forced to return home to Malaysia, leaving their 15-year-old poodle behind.
He needed me
When I read about little Bibi’s plight on the 23rd of February 2018 on Maltese, French Poodle & Yorkie Rescue South Africa’s (MFPYRSA) Facebook page, I fell in love with this terribly sad and lost little boy. Although I’d never had the opportunity of meeting him, I knew he needed me.
I spoke to Alda During of MFPYRSA, who gave me contact details for family in Malaysia. It was a sad story: Carren Leong and her husband had moved to South Africa with their beloved white poodle, Bibi, on a new business venture.
A scam cost them Bibi
To their horror, they arrived in South Africa only to find that it was a scam and their R5 million was gone. Bankrupted and shattered, they returned to Malaysia but, due to finances, weren’t able to take Bibi with them.
Little Bibi was their only “child”, and he travelled everywhere with them. They absolutely adored him and leaving him left them heartbroken and devastated. Carren left Bibi’s doggy passport with a security guard near their home in SA, hoping against hope that maybe she’d be able to bring him home to Malaysia one day.
But the days became weeks, and Carren suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalised.
The mission begins
Two days passed after I saw Bibi’s story and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. That’s when I decided: Bibi deserves to go home – and I was making it my mission to do exactly that. And in time for his 16th birthday on the 6th of May.
My first step was locating his passport. Volunteer Tessa Hanekom offered to help; she found the security guard in Randpark Ridge and got the passport. That was the beginning.
Arrangements were made with Alda to take Bibi to the Bergbon Veterinary Hospital for his vaccinations. Then disaster struck: Bibi fell very ill and had to spend nearly a week at Bergbon Vet until he was better. I thank Barbara Tredway from Bergbon Veterinary Hospital who kept me up to date every day.
Bibi was not coping
We had to find a foster mommy for Bibi as he was not coping at all with all the changes. Celeste Zeilnga stepped up and helped to get Bibi back to his old happy self.
Unfortunately, it was difficult for Bibi to understand Celeste as his language was so different, and, because of his age, he was starting to go deaf as well. So, his Carren sent him voice messages and communicated with us every day.
Funds needed
In the meantime, I contacted Move a Pet in Port Elizabeth and obtained a quotation to fly Bibi back home. Sending pets to another country is a costly undertaking, and we needed funds to accomplish our mission.
Vicki Potts Nicholson of Furry Godmothers opened a bank account for us and the fundraising began. So many wonderful “fur mommies” were part of the journey, sharing my Facebook posts and donating money to sponsor Bibi’s flight.
I met another animal angel, Carolyn Canale, who was celebrating her birthday. She decided to ask her friends to donate money to Bibi’s account instead of buying her gifts. A wonderfully kind gesture, and it helped tremendously.
Bibi goes home
Finally, we had enough money and Bibi’s flight was booked for the 11th of April 2018; Bibi was going home. From the funds raised we were also able to settle his medical account at Bergbon Vet. Sandi Williamson from Move a Pet booked his flight and Bibi was set to go.
His family was overjoyed that Bibi was coming home and decided that they wanted to get involved in animal rescue in Malaysia. They also adopted a little sister named Ha Yang for Bibi as he’d loved playing with the other doggies at his foster home.
The day Bibi left I was so uncertain and worried: he’s a senior dog and I didn’t know if he’d be okay on such a long flight. He did pass all his medicals, but on his arrival in Kuala Lampur, Bibi was ill. He had tick bite fever!
We were devastated, but his family took the vet to the Quarantine Centre every day and Carren cooked special food for him. They travelled 240km every day to see Bibi until, at long last, after a week Bibi could go home.
My mission was completed.
I want to thank the following people: Sandy from Move a Pet; Joanne, the agent in Malaysia; Bergbon Veterinary Hospital; Celeste Zeilinga; Tessa Hanekom; Vicki Potts Nicholson from Furry Godmothers, who always supports me; Alda During, who looked after Bibi until I became involved; KLM Airlines; the Vet in Amsterdam who treated Bibi; The Animal Hotel staff in Amsterdam; and to all my sponsors – Carolyn Canale and everyone who donated and supported me. Dee Ivings from Happy Tails for your donation and continuous support in Bibi’s return home. Thank you from Bibi and me.
P.S. I’ll be visiting Bibi in February 2019 – it will be such an honour to meet our little man and his family at last.
Carren Leong, Bibi’s owner, shares…
We sold our business here in Malaysia and had planned to start up a new business in South Africa with a friend. But, after a month, things turned ugly and, due to our visas expiring, we had to go back to Malaysia to reapply for a visa.
It was only after we arrived back in Malaysia that we noticed that there’d been a scam: both of us lost all our money and we had to go through a very challenging time to pay back our debts in Malaysia. The plan had been to get Bibi back to us, but we truly could not afford it. We were shattered.
One of the groomers who used to groom Bibi referred me to Maltese, French Poodle & Yorkie Rescue South Africa. This rescue team got Dalene, an absolute blessing, to make contact with us, and she immediately began to raise funds for Bibi to come home.
We will never forget Bibi’s foster mom, Celeste. She showered Bibi with endless love and the best care. Thank you so much for looking after Bibi and getting him into such good shape. I’m sure that Bibi misses Celeste too.
With enormous thanks to Dalene, to everyone who shared Bibi’s post on Facebook, and to those who donated towards his flight home to Malaysia – you made our dream come true!
Our Bibi is back and we are one very happy family again. It had crossed our minds that we might have to find someone in South Africa to adopt Bibi, and, even now, we can’t believe that he’s back home with us. Bibi recently had a growth on his lip removed, but, other than that, he’s a very happy boy.
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much.
