Tefas

They say a dog is a man's best friend. Well - I'm only a woman - but they are my friends too. And when people leave them on the street I get pissed off. So one day, strolling down the main tourist street, I see a few doggies wearing vests saying "I have no home. Adopt me". And that's where I start getting emotional. It's like a muffin baking itself, rolling up (all hot from the oven) on your plate and saying "eat me". When a dog wears a vest that begs you to do exactly what you want to do... it gets very hard to resist. Luckily I had Fran with me and he dragged me away from there (I do realize having a dog complicate things when you live as a backpacker). But at least I got their Facebook.

 

And that's how we found SOS el Arca, a dog shelter that care for dogs from the street and help them find new homes. Their maximum capacity is 170 dogs, and at the moment they have 186. The problem here is that people get dogs - as company or to protect the house or for whatever reason - and then they don't castrate them. So they make puppies. And more puppies. And then the puppies make puppies that make puppies. And in a fairly short time two dogs have multiplicated into twenty. And what do you do if your dog multiplicates, as well as every other dog in the area, and you can't sell them or give them away? Some people drown or poison them. Others put them on the street.

 

In SOS el Arca the dogs get food, veterinary care, baths and walks. They live in what looks like cells with beds, a room with protection from the rain and a small patio. There are also three bigger enclosures where they can run free and swim in the swimming pool. And the staff do a great job to keep them activated and to keep the spaces clean.

 

We have gone there to play and on the weekly bathing procedure to help out. We have also taken the night walk that they do with the help of volunteers every night, where they dress dogs in vests and collect money on the street. That is also a good way to find adopters.

 

This is how they live, five or six dogs in each enclosure. All divided depending on the what packs they used to live in on the street.