The Street Dogs of Santiago

On a recent bike tour around Santiago we found ourselves cycling through the string of parks in the city. Whilst admiring the relaxed attitude of the Santiago people who spend a lot of time relaxing in these parks, I was all of a sudden manoeuvring around a dog. Then I realised I was doing it again and again. Not the same dog, all different kinds of dogs with no owner or leash in sight. When I dug a bit deeper, this is what I found. These are the “Street Dogs” of Santiago! Yes they have an official name.

Before I could even think about rescuing one of the Street Dogs I realised just how many there were. Santiago contains a fair number of Street Dogs (one estimate is 250,000!), they are everywhere but they are not scrawny, flea ridden and unruly at all. Surprisingly the majority is well behaved and well fed. Some of the dogs had collars, most didn’t, I was told that even if a dog had a collar that was just the locals putting a collar on the dog so it didn’t get round up by the local council! The Street Dogs seem to have a sort of society amongst themselves. There are packs that roam together in the parks, dogs coupled and of course the loners. They sleep wherever they please, in the park, on the footpath, by the shop door or next to your hotel (really). Chileans show tremendous compassion for the Street Dogs, leaving out food and water, build shelters and business workers save their lunch scraps for the walk home (great recycling and no wastage!). I was told some parks have makeshift dog kennels for them to rest in! As a result of the communal care from the Chilean residents – the majority of the dogs are well mannered, they play and they look healthy. A word of warning though, with every good there is also bad. Dogs whether alone or in a pack can still bite, so exercise caution around the dogs.

While many other countries would treat any breed of stray animal as a pest to be gotten rid of, it is a testament to the temperament of the Chilean people. Killing these animals en mass is not an option. Every time there is talk of mass culling to reduce the population, there is huge public outcry. The locals acknowledge the high numbers of Street Dogs are a problem, brought about from a combination of unwanted pets in small apartments, the need for tighter ownership laws, limited education in the past about sterilisation, and thus excess breeding. Rather than ostracising these animals, the locals recognise the predicament that the dogs are here to stay and have unofficially taken it upon themselves over the years to feed and “maintain” them as a bit of a community contribution. There are volunteer groups working within Chile and volunteer vets that travel to Santiago to help with deworming, rabies shots and sterilising the existing population to help reduce the population growth. While not solving the current dog population numbers, these are all steps in the right direction.
For now, it is up to the locals to make the best of the situation in the most humane way they know how; with compassion and tolerance. That alone speaks volumes about the people of Chile.
So when you visit Santiago, think of the Street Dogs as part of the Santiago experience and think about how much compassion and tolerance is behind each and every Street Dog. If you’re an animal lover, you will most likely take on the Chilean’s compassionate behaviour and start recycling your scraps while you’re there.