My wife, Chris, and I are on our way north to rendezvous with some Montana friends in Glacier National Park. We spent a nigh on the Navajo reservation in Chinle Arizona outside of Canyon De Chelly National Monument. It's a weird place, part ancient history of the Southwest, part dismal life on a contemporary reservation.
We were struck by the contrast and dismayed by the condition of all the dogs and cats we saw. We just aren't used to seeing pets in these conditions. We are used to dealing with excess in most places in the US. If I see a really skinny dog, I immediately think: disease. A pancreatic enzyme deficiency or some chronic infiltrative intestinal disease that prevents the absorption of nutrients would lead to a skinny dog. But what if all the dogs were skinny?
Malnutrition just doesn't exist in most places, anymore. Well, not so on most Reservations in the Western US. Many of the dogs we saw were suffering from a chronic lack of groceries. According to a park ranger I talked to they don't get much regular vet care, either. No vet in town and the closest to vet care these dogs come across is a free rabies clinic now and then.
You don't see lots of dogs roaming around loose in most places, these d
ays. Leash laws, dog catchers and conscientious owners take care of that. Well, that was not the case where we camped. We were shocked to see several dogs roaming around loose, foraging around the camp sites for scraps. My wife of course, fed most of her dinner to one lucky mutt. Lucky for that night anyway. This was one of the
mangiest looking dogs I had ever seen up close. I could count his ribs from my perch at the picnic table. It was sad.
It made me think about how lucky most pets are. We really do pamper them. They are treated more like family than some human family members. They get better health care than ever before and most live to a ripe old age.
We take this for granted. My wife and I wished we could take some of these poor dogs home with us, but where would you start? With the fifteen we saw in the campground or the fifty we saw driving through town?
Poverty is hard on people and it's hard on pets, too.