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I´ve never been an extreme dog lover, but last night I gave Beba (feminine form of ¨baby¨) a bath. Beba is one of Mexico City´s street dogs. She lives in Colonia Roma, on a busy calle dotted with hotels, taco stands and upscale restaurants. She´s not a comedienne, but she can be wildly entertaining, especially when she´s hungry. She´s finicky, though: ham, cheese, sausages or chicken for this perra.
If you´ve traveled around South America, maybe you´ve seen roving packs of dogs. I know I did on trips to Chile and Colombia in the past. Dog populations seem out of control in some places, and I´m always curious about things local governments do to control them.
In Mexico City, I don´t see that problem, maybe in the ¨Establo¨. There are groups here that look out for these animals. The only reason Beba, whose only consistent home is the patch of sidewalk in front of the garage where she ¨works¨, hasn´t been scooped up by canine enforcement is because she has an i.d. tag on her collar. It reads ¨RAMBO Beba¨. Either ¨Rambo¨ was her former name, or someone wanted to save a few pesos on a dog tag and reused RAMBO´s.
Story goes that Beba was abandoned and found her way to her current residence, an open-top parking garage, some 7 years ago. Everyone on the block knows her, leaves her drink and water and occasionally, she ends up with a secret bath. She´s not a fan of the suds and water. But with all the soot and car exhaust that washes off her fur (she´s some kind of Lab), the elements of Mexico City living, must feel like a relief.
This week´s GVP is an excellent piece of early 80s animation. The follow-up, so to speak, of the anti-Easter Bunny pick Watership Down (1978). That cartoon was based on a book I saw a lot of kids reading in grade school back in the day.
The Plague Dogs, also based on a book by Richard Adams, is about the suffering of two dogs who escape from an animal lab. It´s not a light flick, with some heavy themes. You really feel for these dogs by the end of the movie, and it has nothing to do with being a dog lover.
channibalsmith.com 