THE MURDERERS scaled the fence, sharpened cutlasses held aloft and ready for a blood sacrifice, and Baby Rusty, who had never before encountered violence, ran with terror, trying to escape the rain of cutlass blades that continually descended upon his helpless and vulnerable body.
But he could not escape the murderers.  They were too many, too ruthless, and too determined to put an end to his life, and they succeeded.
The trails of Rusty’s blood told an agonizing and pitiful story of terror and pain, because the wounded dog ran to hide behind a ladder, where he received the first chop, then he ran behind a post, where he received another chop; and as he ran, hiding behind one obstacle or another in a home that had become a carnage house from the safe haven of love that he knew, one can only imagine his helpless vulnerability and his great yearning for the two people he loved to come and save him; but when they arrived, it was too late.
Yes, Rusty was a dog.
He was no pedigreed dog.  He was an ordinary brown dog who was extraordinarily loved by Pradeep and Shalini Lall.

Baby of the family
Shalini is childless but she never felt the loss of a child, because Rusty was the baby of the family – by name and nature.
He would snuggle up to them in bed, and he and Shalini would cuddle and sleep together in the hammock for hours.  He loved being rocked in the hammock.    Probably he wondered why they only had two legs instead of four as he did, and probably he felt sorry for them for their lack, but there certainly was no doubt in his mind that he was an integral part of the family – dearly beloved and absolutely spoilt.
He loved to go for drives and Pradeep had to allow him in the car while he reversed in the mornings, which satisfied him until the afternoon, when Pradeep would take him out for a drive; either to run errands, or to take him for a run on the nearby seawalls.
Like a spoilt child, also, Rusty refused to eat any except his favourite foods of either chicken, cheese, liver, or Beneful puppy chow; and Pradeep was a familiar face every day at the Hilton restaurant where, apart from Rusty’s special meal, he would purchase a thousand dollars’ worth of dog food for some ownerless dogs that slept on the sand on the seawall dam that ran alongside his house.
Although these dogs did not belong to Pradeep and Shalini as Rusty, their “Baby” did, there was a bond of affection because the two animal lovers took care of them and never let them go hungry, so they slept on a pile of sand on the seawall dam outside of the Lall’s yard and protected the home.
But the day came when they themselves needed protection against murdering marauders who had no compunction about butchering helpless animals without any mercy whatsoever.
Shalini Lall had kissed her “Baby” goodbye that morning before leaving for work.  When she received a fateful call from a neighbour that afternoon she had no idea that her life was about to shatter.
“The people who does kill dogs jump over your fence”, said the neighbour.
Shalini began to cry hysterically, even while calling her husband to rush home and ensure that “Baby is alright.”
But she had a premonition that life as she knew it was about to be shattered, because the dog-slaughterers had a history of killing any dog on sight, and her Baby had “no road sense” and could not run away.  Besides, the yard was fenced and she could not get away from them.
A colleague, who had also lost her beloved pet a while before, also broke down in tears while attempting to comfort her; but her worst fears were confirmed when Pradeep, also crying heart-brokenly, called her to ask Dr. Waldron, the Lall’s veterinarian, to stand by because their baby had been badly injured.

Death of Rusty
She made the call, then shut down her computer, after which a colleague rushed her to Dr. Waldron’s office.  Pradeep must have broken every speed record driving from their home in Beterverwagting, because he was already there, shirtless and drenched from head to foot in Rusty’s blood, while Dr. Waldron prepared Rusty for surgery.
When she saw her blood-drenched husband Shalini realized that her Baby was more badly injured than she had thought and began screaming wildly, wanting to see Rusty, but they would not let her.

Grieving as if for a child
When she eventually saw him, he was dead.  He died on the operating theatre, although Dr. Waldron tried desperately to save him.
Pradeep broke down completely.  He went on his knees and sobbed like a baby.  Shalini has been inconsolable since then.  Neither has been able to stomach a morsel of food since then, only surviving on liquids; and Shalini has been crying non-stop.
Rusty had been chopped on the mouth, the neck, the head, across the ear, one of her forelegs had been near-severed, with only the skin hanging.
Longtime friend Harry Ramanand and his wife Rita, who had know Rusty since the Lalls got him as a tiny pup, has been, along with other friends, keeping company with the couple, whom they say are mourning Rusty as if a human being had died, because Rusty, for them, had been their child, and a loving companion.  He said that Rusty’s own bed had a net; but he most often slept with the Lalls.
According to Ramanand, he has never seen anyone lose as much weight as Pradeep has within a matter of days; and Shalini is the same.
Shalini said that she looked forward to return home from work in the evenings because of Rusty’s hugs.  He would wait by the gate and, as soon as the car stopped would launch himself into her arms as she opened the gate.  She would then put him on a leash to save him from being run over as Pradeep parked the car, because Pradeep would hoist him up and he would lay his head on his (Pradeep’s) shoulder like a baby.  Since he died the couple has dreaded returning home, because the memories are too painful to bear, and the loss is too wounding to endure.
Among the gang running behind the helpless dogs to chop them to death with sharp cutlasses are young boys and women from Django Town, an adjoining community near to the seawall, separated by towering forest-like vegetation.
On Thursday last two men, Steven Parsram and Akbar Alli were remanded to prison on a charge of dog-slaughter.  Their lawyer, SC Bernard Dos Santos, in his defence strategy, is attempting to paint a picture of a dog that is a nuisance often let loose to run berserk in the community.
However, every neighbour spoken to by the Chronicle attested to the fact that Rusty was never let out into the street.  The only time he was seen out of the Lall’s yard was when he was taken for drives by Pradeep.
According to shopkeeper in the community, Nina Anderson, she was sleeping when she heard a commotion.  On racing out she saw Pradeep’s car flying into the street with a police patrol behind.

Rusty always on leash out of the house
When she heard what had happened she was, like every member of the very close-knit, integrated community, very angry, especially as one of the victims was Rusty, which she described as the Lall’s child because they treated him with absolute love.  She said that Rusty always travelled in the car and only came into the shop on a leash with either Pradeep or Shalini.
She revealed that her neighbour across the road from her had lost their children’s pet in similar circumstances as this gang from the neighbouring village would, almost every year, run through the community and slaughter all the dogs, even little puppies and pets in yards, after which there would be break-ins and thefts of property, including building materials and tools, especially from the isolated near-the-seawall homes.
Pradeep himself, who had recently began building his home, had himself lost materials days after a similar slaughter of dogs in the community in 2010.
According to neighbour, Narvan Singh, although the gang claimed that they killed the dogs because their sheep and goats had been harassed, they belong to another community, which is Django Town in Mon Repos, and every time they slaughtered the dogs of BV there are subsequent thefts.

Motive for slaughter of dogs questionable
Both Rabindranauth Bissoon, aka Ralph, and Narvan Singh said that the motive behind this senseless, hideous slaughter of helpless animals is theft; because everytime they go on a rampage, days subsequently homeowners lose their construction materials, tools, household items etc from break-ins.
According to the two men, who outlined the strategies used by the perpetrators, they cannot leave their homes untended without fear of a break-in, and they, having seen the pattern over the years, which they claim is not a coincidence, are adamant that the primary cause for this mad slaughter of helpless animals is to clear hurdles to make way for clandestine activities to which the presence of dogs, which always bark at strangers, would hinder.
Singh, who lost his pet dog in a similar manner, said that it is unlikely that their excuse of goats being bitten by the dogs would stand scrutiny.
The men contend that if this is so, then the reasonable thing to do is to appoint a minder to tend the herds instead of letting them loose to stray even on roadways where they pose a traffic risk, because most of the persons in the gangs are not gainfully employed.
According, it is upon hindsight, and after recognizing a pattern, that they realize that, as far back as 2002 there have been break-ins corresponding with the near-annual, and sometimes bi-annual slaughter of dogs in the community.
Pradeep and Shalini are comforting themselves with the belief that God had a higher purpose for their Baby’s brutal death, which is to give voice to the many voiceless animals slaughtered by the beasts in human form, including mothers, this time around one a seven-months pregnant woman.
They swear that, through seeking justice for Rusty, they would be bringing to the fore a problem that is endemic to the Guyanese society, and that is cruelty to animals.
GSPCA,  animal lovers Syeadha Manbodh and Joel Ghansham, as well as many friends and supporters, through the Facebook network have pledged support for the fight for justice for Rusty Lall, beloved baby of Pradeep and Shalini Lall.