ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – A motorcade awaits Kabang, the hero dog, when she arrives here from the United States on Monday.
Kabang, a two-year-old mixed breed, underwent seven-month treatment in California after she lost her snout and upper jaw when she saved her owner’s 12-year-old daughter and a granddaughter from a speeding motorcycle in December 2011.
Kabang’s heroism grabbed the attention of experts and dog lovers worldwide who paid for her treatment at the William R. Pritchard Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at the University of California (UC) Davis. She was released from the hospital last Monday.
Her owner, Rudy Bunggal, 58, said he has been informed about Kabang’s arrival and that a motorcade was being prepared for her return.
“If we will see each other, I will really cry. I’m really excited because I have not seen her for a long time,†Bunggal said in the Visayan dialect.
Bunggal said he is proud that Kabang has encouraged people to have more respect for dogs and other animals.
Doctors at UC Davis healed Kabang’s wounds and treated other ailments but were unable to reconstruct her snout and jaw, according to veterinary professor Frank Verstraete.