Hi Everyone,
As much as I love living in Playa del Carmen, there is one problem that I find so difficult to understand, and that is the treatment of pets here. I guess coming from Canada, where your pets are really a member of the family, it is truly heartbreaking to see owners simply neglect their animals, dogs especially. My neighbour has a dog, Chatta, and he takes wonderful care of her, but unfortunately, he really is the exception. She has become that dog on the street who runs and greets everyone with such love...it's as if she feels like she truly belongs in every house. Actually, there's a vacation rental house on the street and when Chatta's owner is away for the night, you can find her scratching at that door, and sure enough, the vacationers take her in for the night! She is really darling ;)
This is her and I soon after we met :)
And here she is saying hello when our friend and Brian were in the car :)
There are several animal rescue operations here, totally run by volunteers; It is something Brian and I are wanting to get involved with. This is Roja (Spanish for 'red'), and she is the little girl we were looking to adopt. You can see she has a scar on her head, and as unbelievable as it is, that scar is from someone hitting her with a machete. Somehow she survived, and the volunteers call her the miracle dog. Every time we see her, she goes crazy...so excited to see us! She is just so full of love, that I cannot imagine what kind of person would do that!
This little girl is one we feed regularly. It took her a while to trust us, but now when she sees us, she runs and sits at the little corner store, waiting for us to buy her food! She's a doll ;)
Now this little guy is new to our street. A neighbour brought him home, but unfortunately does not take care of him at all; it's actually Chatta who cares for him...like a good mom! Of course when the guy brought him home (we call him 'puppy' ;), the little pup was fat, healthy and oh so cute. Now he's been there for about three weeks and his fur is not the least bit shiny, he's flea ridden and getting way too skinny. So everyday we get him food, and in the evenings I make my way outside to feed him our dinner leftovers and wander around the block to find and feed the others. We are also going to get some flea medication and just give it to him because the poor little guys ears and body are cut up from all his scratching. It's difficult to watch, but it is more difficult to not do anything at all!
Here he is in the basket on my bike. I was testing the waters to see if he would go for a bike ride with me ;)
Like I said earlier, there are obvious exceptions, and some people take great care of their pets, going so far as building some pretty fantastic dog houses. Here are a couple I spotted in people's yards.
I guess like in a lot of places, there are good pet owners and bad pet owners. But what breaks my heart, is that a dog will love you no matter what you do or don't do to them or for them. They'll give you love and ask for nothing in return. They will flourish if they receive that love, but if they don't, they will still continue to give it. That is something that no one should take advantage of!
I'll leave you with a quote from a Persian poet in the 14th Century:
Even after all this time, the Sun never says to the Earth,
"You owe me."
Look what happens with a love like that,
It lights the whole sky.
I would love to hear about your dogs or cats! It warms my heart to hear people talk about just how much they love their pets :)
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