Paws Follow in the footsteps of Patrick
Robert Donkers has completed a seven-day trek of Saint Patrick's trail from Armagh to Downpatrick accompanied by his eight dogs Jake, Ronan, Pippa, Hannah, Olive, Madeleine, Violet and Wilbur to raise funds for the Walking to Save Dogs Charity.?
The Charity which was founded by Robert in 2018 raises awareness regarding the ongoing inhuman treatment of dogs in the dog meat trade which is ubiquitous across all of China and South East Asia and to hopefully rescue some of these poor creatures from the unfortunate fate that would await them at the hands of the industry.
?Robert elaborated on the true scale of the problem by providing context as to how much demand there still was for the commodification and sale of dogs for human consumption in this part of the world. He made it quite clear that the purchasing of dogs for slaughter and human consumption was far from a niche market.??
“In South Korea more than two and a half million dogs are consumed each year, along with 10 million in China. During the festival of Yulin which runs from the 21st to the 30th of June nearly 10,000 dogs are killed and eaten during this period which marks the summer solstice.?
“It is believed that if the flesh of these animals is eaten during this time that it can provide those who eat it with good fortune for the coming year as well as improving their libido.?
“But this is completely factually inaccurate, with absolutely no scientific basis. What is even worse is that not only in Yulin, but throughout the whole of the industry dogs have been subjected to slaughter methods such as blowtorching and boiling alive, whilst they are fully conscious.?
“This is done because people are labouring under the false misapprehension that to do so improves the quality of the meat, which again is not true. I have been to the far east and I witnessed such atrocities with my own eyes, and I think this is absolutely deplorable.
“Dogs have been our faithful companions for years. Not many people seem to know this, but it has been proven that dogs, like many other animals possess a high degree of intellect and self-awareness. Dogs can alert an epileptic if they are about to suffer a seizure as well as detect the early on set of cancer in some patients. Despite this not only in Asia, but in other parts of the world they are routinely stolen, tortured and eaten as meat.”
Robert, who is originally from Holland before he moved to London and then subsequently Northern Ireland was also keen to provide more detail on what inspired him to take up this noble campaign to end the cruel and barbaric torture of mans best friend which has become so prolific on the continent of Asia.?
“I grew up in Holland and my Grandmother was from the far east. When I was a child, she would constantly tell tales about how when she was little her pets were stolen from here and her family for slaughter to provide meat in the industry . Although I always paid attention to the stories that she told me I never really thought that much about it or comprehended the true scale of the problem until I moved to London.?
“When I moved there one day a van drove past me with the phrase “stop the dog-meat trade". It suddenly hit me that this still happened, and I thought that I needed to do something about it, so I founded Walking to Save Dogs, which fundraiser to support charities that work to save dogs from slaughter. Although it is difficult to do anything about it directly because I am primarily based here in Northern Ireland I can still support those groups who want to put a stop to this barbaric trade such as The Sound Of Animals Foundation, and the Bali Animal Welfare foundation.”?
In 2018 Robert?completed a 65-day trek from Cornwall to Scotland to help raise funds for the cause. The fundraising trek this time around involved Robert and his eight canine companions traversing the terrain and locations most often associated with Irelands patron saint by starting each day in the trail where they had left of the previous day before returning home via vehicle in the evening.?As Robert himself said: “It is hard to find accommodation during these difficult times with Covid 19, let alone when you have eight of your pooch friends along with you.”?
The roster of locations visited included Scarva, Newry, Rostrevor, Hill Town, Newcastle, Tyrella, and finally to end the tour Downpatrick. Although his past experiences dog-walking in the rest of the UK provided Robert with the necessary skills and experience needed to navigate through the south-eastern portions of Northern Ireland, he also stated that the province was not without it’s own set of challenging circumstances not in the least owing to Northern Irelands troubled history.?
“Firstly let me state that I enjoyed ever second, minute and hour with my canine friends. However that is not to say that along the way we were not faced with difficulties.
“The difficult thing about the Saint Patricks trail was a lot of the directional signage was vandalised so I regularly found myself unsure of which direction I should take in order to continue on the trail.?
“I am not the best map reader and this problem was not helped by the fact that I had to keep an eye on eight dogs, it was quite tricky. When I was in Tollymore forest I met one of the wardens their and told her I was lost and there are no signs anywhere and she said to me that as soon as the signs are erected they get vandalised This was something I didn’t really think about when I was walking Saint Patricks trail, the history of the divisions in Northern Ireland. Of course I suppose the truly Ironic thing that a lot of people seem to forget is that Saint Patrick was not Irish he was English, but that gets a bit of topic.?
“What is also difficult in Northern Ireland is that you have no right of access or ways. So in the rest of the UK you can just sort of walk through farm fields.?
“What I mean is farmers leave a meter at the border, so you have a path to walk. There was a lot of road walking and if you are walking one dog on an A road that is quite tricky, walking with eight dogs is very dangerous. So that is a bit of a shame and I wish that Northern Ireland could look at that and open up the paths to walk through nature and through farm fields. I think this would attract much more tourists to go on walking holidays throughout the country. So yeah that was a difficult thing to do indeed."?
One day we had really bad weather and we had to go back to the car and start over again the next day.?
Robert also felt it appropriate to address the elephant in the room when it came to this fundraising excursion. “Yes I did have to pick up a lot of dog-do. I scooped it up into a plastic bad and placed it into my backpack to avoid receiving a fine. Although I emptied it out at the end of every day I did begin to smell a bit towards the end of each day and I hoped that those people that I encountered on my trip did not think that the smell was coming from me. However I must say most people that I met on my way were friendly and were curious to ask me questions relating to my dogs such as if they were for sale and if they were all mine.?
“Despite these difficulties it was a really interesting and nice walk to see the difference in the environment, so it was really nice to see all these different things. You have got the mountains you have got the sea. I have never seen a live red squirrel, I saw two in Tolllymore forest, I could not believe my luck. I was so excited to see two of them."
Whilst Robert may have had his fair share of problems in journeying through the trail, his dogs were more than well prepared to undergo the arduous trail to help their fellow canine brothers and sisters.?
“Like people dogs have to prepare before they undergo strenuous physical activity. However for my dogs that was not an issue despite the fact that they are only Shi-Tzus and Chihuahuas. They have undergone similar and more taxing physical experiences beforehand such as when I walked from Cornwall to Scotland, so they have become quite physically resilient. I would also say that I rely on them as much as they rely on me, for moral support and companionship."?
Robert was keen to stress that although the impact this one fundraising event may have had in combating the ongoing slaughtering of dogs for human consumption may be comparatively very small, it is just one battle won in the wider war against cruelty to these noble animals. He emphasised that change is always a gradualist process.?
“We raised a total of Twelve hundred pounds via our Facebook page and the Walking to Save Dogs Website. This can go a long way to helping those who work on a daily basis to stop the mass slaughtering of dogs such as paying the wages for the non-voluntary organisations that work for the cause or pay the veterinary bills of any animals that have been rescued from this cruel trade. Understand that what I am really trying to do here is raise awareness of this issue as many people are completely oblivious to it. Change, especially positive change is always gradual, However through events such as these we can hope to encourage people to support our actions so that we can one day live in a world were no unnecessary cruelty is inflicted upon any animal, let alone mans best friend."?
As mentioned above Robert's efforts to support the organisations that hope to end the slaughter and sale of dogs is currently ongoing. If you would like to make a donation you can do so by sending the money through to Robert directly via PayPal by using his email address robertdonkers261@gmail .com. Alternatively donations can also be made via his Facebook page or www.walkingtosavedogs.com?