Barker's Beauties

Bob Barker would not be happy. The third world seems to have blatantly disregarded his sage show-ending plea to “help control the pet population by having your pets spade or neutered”. Bob would likely be horrified to see the enormous number of stray dogs wandering the streets of many of the cities and towns of the so-called third world I've visited. Then again, these canines hardly qualify as pets as they are obviously sans owners and actual homes. Not to mention that I’d bet good money that none has seen the inside of a veterinary clinic for shots or a bath, let alone more invasive procedures.

Not only is Bob's request being ignored, but it would seem that his worst nightmare is in the offing. The scruffy canines wandering the streets don't seem to restrict their copulation urges to their own species. I’ve seen more than a few peculiar looking dogs with suspiciously swine-like features that baffle the mind as to just how such a union might transpire, not that I care to ever linger upon that thought. Others, who seem to restrict their intimate experiences to their own species, are such an amalgam of uninhibited cross-breeding that it would take the folks at the Westminster Kennel Club decades to figure out the blood lines of just one of them.

Of course, all that unrestrained reproduction means that there are a significant number of mangy mutts freely roaming the streets, scavenging for every scrap of food they can get. I can barely walk fifty feet down a street in many of the third world cities I've visited without encountering a small pack of them poking around in every nook and cranny for the slightest morsel of food. Such occurrences typically send me scrambling into the nearest storefront or giving them at least a ten foot wide arc when passing by.

Still, that's not entirely fair to the dogs as they are simply attempting to make the best of a less than ideal situation. Their scruff appearance alone does not mean that they are disease-carrying hosts waiting to infest the nearest passerby. Although given the squalid conditions they are forced to live in, more than a few have likely succumbed to such a fate. My fears are likely steeped in equal parts overreaction and prudence.

Luckily, most don't really seem to be in the mood for food of the two-legged variety. If anything, they seem to give me as wide a berth when passing as I do them. But, despite getting poked and prodded for just about everything before I departed, I remain cautious. I have no desire to withstand a barrage of shots to the stomach – or elsewhere - should I encounter a dog that decides that my fleshy ankles might just be a good snack.

Unfortunately, the fate of such dogs seems to be tied to their human brethren. When most of the local human population struggles to feed – let alone house - themselves or their families on a daily basis, concern for care of the canine population likely doesn't rank very high on the societal priority list. Of course, the irony is that this also leaves the dogs to procreate unabated which only worsens the situation.

Perhaps if the financial tides of the third world turn for the better and a few generations find themselves able to provide for their families with some assured regularity, then the issue may begin to be able to be addressed. Until then, I expect that mangy mutts will continue to wander the streets fighting for every remnant they can find, making visitors such as myself a bit wary in the process, and thumbing their cold noses at Bob Barker in the process.