No Pura Vida for the Pit Bull

Our sweet Roscoe gone again

This post will be a bit of a rant, I’m afraid. Our sweet neighbor pit bull Roscoe has disappeared once again and, unfortunately, I think I know why. He had not been neutered. That’s it in a nutshell. He’s a “teenager” now at almost one year of age and those hormones are raging. It’s only natural that he would head out looking for a girlfriend, and being such a pretty dog (and of a breed that for some inexplicable reason people seem to want), someone has taken him in and now has him restrained. It worries me so much that he’s chained up somewhere or being taught to be mean or otherwise being mistreated. Or perhaps he’s still running the streets, now hungry, lost, confused and wet here in the rainy season. And, of course, he’s no doubt out there making puppies that no one wants and that will end up as malnourished strays, themselves un-neutered and making still more unwanted pups. It’s a terrible vicious cycle.

Some Grande Cahonies

As fond as we are of our landlords and their adult son Estevan, whose dog this was, I have to say that they suffer from the all-too-common Tico attitude of negligence about having dogs spayed or neutered. In fact, sad to say that in this historically “macho” society, the idea of castrating male dogs is anathema to most men and even some women. When I suggested to Eduardo that the reason Roscoe had begun running off was because of his desire to mate, he discounted the idea completely, saying it’s only because they are not home all the time and the entire property has not been fenced. Such a span of fencing, however, would be prohibitively expensive, he said, shrugging his shoulders,  resigned to the loss of Roscoe. Although there may be some truth in that, at least in terms of the benefit of full-time supervision for the dog, I have no doubt that the sex drive was much more of a motivation to roam than absent humans.

When Roscoe was still only a puppy himself, a young stray dog began hanging around here. He was a pathetic little guy, skinny and insecure, tail between his legs and a hangdog look in his eyes, but he and Roscoe became pals and spent hours playing happily together. One afternoon when I was up the hill in our community garden behind Odie and Eduardo’s house, I found Estavan there picking fleas or ticks off of Roscoe and scowling at the stray, trying to run him off. As we talked, I learned that he disliked having the homeless dog around as he was giving Roscoe fleas. “So,” I asked, “are you going to have Roscoe neutered?” “No,” he quickly replied. “Well, then,” I said, “you know Roscoe’s going to be out there making more strays just like this one.” No comment from Estevan. Clearly, he did not consider that to be his problem.

The plight of stray dogs and cats has troubled Layne and me the entire time we’ve been in Costa Rica. During our first spring here when we lived up the mountain in Alto del Monte, a couple of emaciated young dogs made their way into our fenced compound, obviously hungry and looking for a handout. Since our neighbors in the duplex owned a couple of small dogs themselves, we gave the puppies some dog food and tried to figure out what to do about them. Down the road from us was the Lighthouse, a wonderful animal rescue operation run by a dedicated Gringa named Frances and her long-suffering husband Bruce. With a phone call, we learned that Frances had a spay and neuter clinic scheduled that weekend and that, although her household was full of other homeless critters at the moment, we could bring the dogs there for neutering at least. Given that the dogs were too undernourished to walk down the road to the Lighthouse, we bummed a ride from our neighbors and took the dogs for care that Sunday. They were bathed, neutered and as far as we know, made a recovery from their sad condition. Though she didn’t really have room for them, Frances did agree to keep them and try to find homes for them. For some of the stories of Lighthouse rescues, check out Frances’ blog: http://mrbudbud.blogspot.com/.

 

But most stray dogs are not so lucky. The problem is massive and the answer is education, which is what Frances says she focuses on by teaching the children in the neighborhood how important it is to give proper care, food, exercise and medical attention - including neutering! - to their pets. Perhaps the next generation will have a more enlightened attitude about other living creatures and how unkind it is to leave pets with their reproductive capability intact instead of giving them a happier, more carefree life without that drive to procreate.

But to end on a lighter note, this amazing looking bird landed on a limb just outside our back patio today and let out a loud - and I mean loud! - series of screeches. I hurried out with my camera and caught this shot. It was large like a parrot but with a snow-white breast and a black mask. I wish I knew what kind of bird it was but have no idea. Just more of Costa Rica’s incredible fauna! 

Festive Gringos and Abandoned Dogs

Saturday, April 3, 2010

(Click on photos to enlarge)

Our hopes for serving as a magnet for visitors to Costa Rica is off to a great start with our long-time friends Penny Cash and Joel Glenn’s arrival last week. On Wednesday, Layne and I hopped on the trusty autobus for the 45-minute ride into San Jose where we met them at our favorite bed and breakfast, Apartotel La Sabana, along with Penny’s older sister Karen and her fun-loving husband Joe. After Penny and I did our “happy dance” greeting, the six of us were off to Karen and Joe’s son Greg’s house in Escazu, an upscale suburb of San Jose. As noted in my last post, Greg and his wife Amanda are the proud new parents of a little baby boy named Lincoln so Karen and Joe are here doing the grandparent thing with great enthusiasm.

         Greg and Amanda are Peace Corps veterans, Greg now retired from that role and starting a new job soon at the US Embassy while Amanda has moved into a management position with the Corps. Both of them are still passionate about the program and committed to continuing its good work in other capacities. Working as a Peace Corps volunteer is an unfulfilled dream of mine so I appreciate their dedication to work that serves the poor around the world.

         The Embassy provides these young people with some pretty snazzy housing in a beautiful gated community. Their large two-story home happens to be right next to the pool. How handy is that!? Naturally, after the well-deserved oohs and ahhs over little Lincoln with his over-sized feet (that boy may be tall!), all of us, except for the new Mom, headed for the pool house with a round of beers. One round led to another and soon we had a table full of “dead soldiers,” plus a very festive group of grown-ups laughing our heads off at one funny story after another. Greg was delayed in joining the party by a car alarm that refused to shut up. But his trip to the auto repair shop was successful and inexpensive: only $10 to fix it. Following a pizza dinner with way too much wine generously supplied by Joe, we finally said goodnight and headed back to the hotel by taxi.

         After enjoying La Sabana’s delicious breakfast the next morning, P & J rented a car and the four of us headed for Atenas, finding remarkably little traffic on the roads because of Semana Santa (Easter Week), a major holiday here when the entire country basically shuts down and heads for the beach. We even found our local neighborhood festooned with bougainvillea-garlanded crosses on our walk today, apparently placed there yesterday in honor of Good Friday.

         Penny and Joel were suitably impressed with our little chalet and we had a lovely evening with cocktails on the patio watching the sunset, then Chifrijo for dinner. What is Chifrijo, you might ask? It’s a basic Costa Rican dish that I’ve adapted somewhat: rice in a bowl, topped by seasoned red beans, sprinkled with a fried meat (in our case spicy sausages), all covered with a lime-dressed cabbage slaw. It’s pretty yummy!        

         After P & J drove off yesterday headed for tourist adventures in the rain forest and on to the beach, a couple of bedraggled puppies appeared in our compound, both thin enough to slip through the metal bars of our gate. Desperately under-nourished, we can only assume that they were dropped off and abandoned. What a problem! We clearly cannot adopt the pups since we’ll be leaving in May and we are confident our landlady would not appreciate our leaving two stray dogs on her property. It is an all-too-common situation, unfortunately. Costa Ricans simply do not see companion animals with the same loving eye that most Americans do. Many are tied up and just fed now and then. Others roam the streets, un-neutered, thus producing still more strays. 

         After a consultation with our neighbor who has two small dogs herself, we decided to call our local animal rescue friends, Frances and Bruce, who live down the road. Regular readers will recall our meeting them at the school fund-raiser a few weeks ago. Since then, Layne and I have paid them a visit on our morning walk and met the house-full of 18 dogs and 5 cats that they care for. Frances has built a splendid clinic space in their home where local vets come and provide shots, spay and neuter services and emergency care at reduced costs, most of which Frances and Bruce pay for out of their own pockets. Their operation is called Lighthouse Animal Rescue and they truly do amazing good work here in Alto de Monte, providing valuable services to the local animals. Lighthouse is in the running for a $1000 prize through the Animal Rescue Site and I would very much appreciate all my blog readers taking a moment to visit that site and cast a vote for them every day, if possible. (You first click on the “Click here to give - It’s Free” purple button; on the next page, click at the top on the “Vote Today” banner. Then in the search space, type in Lighthouse and choose Costa Rica. When Lighthouse comes up, just cast your vote, then confirm it on the following page.) It’s easy! And we really want them to win that money!

         So Frances said if we could care for the dogs until Sunday when she has a spay and neuter clinic scheduled, we could bring them and the vet will treat them for worms and hopefully neuter them, if they are old enough and if their poor health will allow. After that, we don’t know what will happen. Stay tuned! 

Storm Clouds, Coffee Silos and New Amigos

Monday, March 22, 2010

Happy First Day of Spring! Here in Costa Rica we are apparently heading into the rainy season already. Last night we sat out on our patio sharing a bottle of Chilean wine with our Gringo neighbor, watching the lightning flash across the nearby mountains and hearing the thunder roll. When the rains arrived, it was pretty torrential for a while so we moved indoors. Of course, I actually like the dramatic weather and with the overhang covering part of our terrace, we can enjoy these tropical downpours without getting wet. As we head into late afternoon here today, the distant thunder has begun again and clouds are moving in so more showers are likely tonight.

         When we rented this place some four miles outside the town of Atenas, we thought we were at some distance from any real neighborhood. But it turns out that we reside in a small community known as Alto del Monte (loosely translated as “high on the mountain”), a Tico area with a few long-time Gringos residents scattered about. On Saturday as we headed out for our walk, we met the same tall, lanky American with whom we had shared a taxi on our Friday trip to town, walking up the steep driveway of our next door neighbor’s beautiful estate. It turns out Bob works as a gardener for the Gringo/Tico family that has this elegant home adjoining our more modest property. Bob and his Tica wife Ellie and their two charming young daughters have a lovely small home on the slope just above the road along which we take our almost-daily stroll. An interesting feature of this street is the old coffee silo along the side of the road located just below the ubiquitous rows of coffee plants on the hillsides. 

         As we stopped to chat, Bob invited us to a neighborhood event that night, a party with music and dancing and chicharrones (a barbequed pork dish) being held as a benefit for the local school. We had often walked by the tiny schoolhouse without realizing what it was, although it sports a Costa Rican flag out front and has a sign up for Bingo on Sundays. According to Bob, who volunteers at the school teaching English one day a week, there are only 16 students in the single classroom, ranging from first through sixth grades. He tells us that they have six students graduating this year and only two new pupils next year. Small, indeed!

         Later that day, we headed to town to pick up a few items and as we wandered along, I noticed a darling dress in a store window. I’ve been hoping to find some light-weight cotton dresses like I see on so many attractive Ticas so in we went and with some strategic encouragement by the salesgirls, we bought two vestidos, one in denim and another in a turquoise blue and light purple print with a plunging neckline that seemed perfect for the party. We’ve noticed how much cleavage Costa Rican women tend to display, young and old, so I felt like I’d fit right in! As my great-grandmother always said, if you’ve got it, flaunt it!

         That evening, as we made our way down the road toward the schoolyard, we could hear the Latin rhythms and the sound of laughter ahead. The luscious smell of roasting pork greeted us, along with a group of smiling Ticos. We soon found Bob and his daughters eating dinner at a picnic table and were delighted with his kids’ excellent English and gregarious manner. Seated along with Bob was a young Gringo named Dan who is working for an international program that will be sending volunteers soon. His job is to scout out the communities and determine what the most pressing needs are. Dan is living at the estate next door to us and it has been his daily swims in the pool that we’ve observed, including his signature back flip dive. 

         It would have been bad form for us to take photos so you’ll just have to take my word that the evening had the feel of a classic Tico fiesta with the cerveza flowing and much good cheer all around. We met numbers of our neighbors, such as Norma, a beautiful woman with curly black hair who remembered us from a chance meeting on the road a few days earlier when she was carrying her small nino in a sling on her chest. We also met her handsome 20’ish son Miguel, illustrating the range of her children's ages. Later I got into a conversation in Spanish (if you can call my limited vocabulary a “conversation”) with Carlos, an older gentleman whose nice home we pass on our walks down the road. Some kind of flowers in his yard give off a most enchanting fragrance but we have no idea what they are. He called his sister over and we enjoyed a few laughs as I struggled to understand their patient efforts to communicate. They were delightful!

         Among the Gringos present at the party were Kitty and Bruce, who own a fabulous big red-roofed house at the end of the road, which we can see from our hilltop chalet. We were thrilled to learn that they do animal rescue here and provide dog and cat immunizations and spay and neuter clinics virtually free to local residents. In fact, they have some 22 animals in their care at present. They also provide services to horses and cattle.

         According to Kitty, it has been a slow but steady educational process, aimed mostly at the children, to sensitize them to the need for better care of their companion animals. “I tell them,” she said, “just as you feel bad when you get sick, so does your dog. And your mom takes you to the doctor, right? Well, you need to take your dog to the doctor, too.”

         The number of strays we’ve seen here in Costa Rica and their poor condition has been of deep concern to Layne and me, especially back in San Rafael de Heredia, where homeless dogs wandered the streets. I look forward to working with Kitty in her ongoing efforts to improve the lives of the animals here. The next clinic is April 4th and I expect to be there, holding doggy paws and comforting kittens.