My KOREAnization

RIP Bukang

RIP Bukang

September 9th 2019. My husband called and told me Bukang died last night. She was run over by a car at 11pm. Bukang was a dog who had been living in Incheon Port for more than 10 years. My husband started working for Incheon Port in June 2018. He met Bukang the first week he started working and told me that Bukang freely roamed around the port by herself. People who work in the port tried to pet Bukang but she didn't like to be touched. She was aloof. She was a loner. She only approached people when they gave her food and water.

It was a mystery where Bukang slept in winter. On snowy days I asked my husband about Bukang. There were days when he wouldn't see her. It was always a relief whenever my husband would report to me that he saw Bukang wandering around. I gave my husband some dog food and an old
plastic dish. I asked him to feed Bukang she never ate the dog food I sent. Before I became a vegan, my husband and I would have pork legs (JOKPAL in Korean) and we would request the restaurant staff to give us a lot of pork bones for our dogs. My husband brought some bones to Bukang and she took them.

When Bukang was in heat some male dogs followed her inside the port. Bukang would bark at them.

I bugged my husband to take photos of Bukang. The last photo he took was dated May 26th 2019. Bukang looked sad and weak in the photo. She got a few bald patches. I wondered when she last visited a vet.

Incheon Port security guards always complained that they frequently saw Bukang lying in the middle of the road. They tried to shoo her away but she would go back on the same spot. Perhaps Bukang was suicidal or in pain. Maybe she wanted to die. She might be tired of living in the port for 10 years. We would never know.

The man who ran over Bukang did not see her lying in the middle of the road. He called 119, Korea's emergency hotline and reported the incident. Her body was removed immediately and cremated.

"The Incheon Port staff took the box of ashes and would bury it somewhere around Incheon port," my husband said.

I cried a lot thinking of Bukang even though I haven't met her. I started sobbing not because of Bukang but because of my dog, Summer, Kimchee's daughter who has been missing since October 2018 in Pampanga, Philippines. My cousin looked for her everywhere to no avail. The worst case scenario that kept playing in my head was that Summer was run over by a bus or a car. It is so hard to stay positive that some kind person picked her up. I pray that she is alive and well.

Summer, I hope you're still alive. I hope a kind person picked you up from the streets and took you home. I hope you were not run over by a car or a bus. I am sorry I gave you up. I feel like a mother whose child who has gone missing. How could I have peace of mind? I will always be wondering where you are. My heart constricts in pain every time I think of you. I will try my best picturing you in a good home; happy and healthy.