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The airwaves of the Christian world are replete with movies of starving children, living on polluted water, at this time of year. Charities like Unicef and Save the Children show harrowing pictures of distress in Syria, Somalia and Yemen. In the UK there are appeals to help donkeys, which are often lame, underfed and overburdened in the Third world. There are, of course, advertisements for dog charities as well as a lot of regular television programs in Britain, showing pathetic, caged dogs seeking a home. You can adopt a blind-guide puppy. I am sure there are similar shows in the US, Canada , Australia, New Zealand - and all dog-loving countries.
But I have yet to see either an appeal or a documentary for stray dogs in the Third World. Yet winter is a bitter time for them, too. Even in a country like Georgia - I write of the country in the Caucasus, Europe, not the US state - there are thousands of stray dogs, living in the open, where it is now snowing. Most congregate near old churches and monasteries because these have ornamental ponds, where they can find water. At this time of year, most ponds are frozen. You never see a dog that is too small or too weak to leap onto the wall of the raised pool. The priests do not like them and will often kick them, when they think that nobody is looking. For food they have to rely on the rare dog-friendly local or tourists.
One of the saddest dogs we saw was a small black, puppy outside Kutaisi airport. I guess that it had been befriended by a tourist and then followed her or him to the airport at the end of the holiday. The airport is 17 miles/30km from the city center - a long run if the puppy followed the scent of its benefactor. The airport workers would do nothing to help - not even provide water. So we bought food and water and left them in plastic cups.
We see forlorn dogs at airports in the Cape Verdes , too. These are a similar distance from the tourist hotels, where many strays congregate. They can drink fresh water from the shower trays or ornamental fountains and many tourists feed them from buffets. The hotel managers, mostly southern Europeans, dislike dogs. One at the Riu, a large Spanish hotel, arranged for them to be poisoned on the beach, killing a number of adopted pets also. The US ambassador`s pet was killed in this way,on another island.
The hotels often remove dogs. There is now a compound of over 100 strays that are being fed and watered by Italian ladies, who live on the island. Here is a link to OSPA (it means Organisation in Sal to Protect Animals) https://en-gb.facebook.com/ospacapeverdecatsanddogs/. About 15% of these dogs would be Podengo Medios and 5% Podengo Pequenos. Many of their photos show Podengos for adoption, The rest are mostly Labrador look-alikes, some crossed with Podengos, for these were the two breeds brought by the Portuguese to the islands, decades ago. They are wonderful survivors - but they do need help.
But I have yet to see either an appeal or a documentary for stray dogs in the Third World. Yet winter is a bitter time for them, too. Even in a country like Georgia - I write of the country in the Caucasus, Europe, not the US state - there are thousands of stray dogs, living in the open, where it is now snowing. Most congregate near old churches and monasteries because these have ornamental ponds, where they can find water. At this time of year, most ponds are frozen. You never see a dog that is too small or too weak to leap onto the wall of the raised pool. The priests do not like them and will often kick them, when they think that nobody is looking. For food they have to rely on the rare dog-friendly local or tourists.
One of the saddest dogs we saw was a small black, puppy outside Kutaisi airport. I guess that it had been befriended by a tourist and then followed her or him to the airport at the end of the holiday. The airport is 17 miles/30km from the city center - a long run if the puppy followed the scent of its benefactor. The airport workers would do nothing to help - not even provide water. So we bought food and water and left them in plastic cups.
We see forlorn dogs at airports in the Cape Verdes , too. These are a similar distance from the tourist hotels, where many strays congregate. They can drink fresh water from the shower trays or ornamental fountains and many tourists feed them from buffets. The hotel managers, mostly southern Europeans, dislike dogs. One at the Riu, a large Spanish hotel, arranged for them to be poisoned on the beach, killing a number of adopted pets also. The US ambassador`s pet was killed in this way,on another island.
The hotels often remove dogs. There is now a compound of over 100 strays that are being fed and watered by Italian ladies, who live on the island. Here is a link to OSPA (it means Organisation in Sal to Protect Animals) https://en-gb.facebook.com/ospacapeverdecatsanddogs/. About 15% of these dogs would be Podengo Medios and 5% Podengo Pequenos. Many of their photos show Podengos for adoption, The rest are mostly Labrador look-alikes, some crossed with Podengos, for these were the two breeds brought by the Portuguese to the islands, decades ago. They are wonderful survivors - but they do need help.
