Gabriela and the dogs of Rinconada

March 5, Thursday
Our biggest day so far began with a huge-hearted woman named Gabriela, a widow who, when she is not working, spends her time feeding and treating dogs in an area called Rinconada, on the outskirts of Santiago. It’s a dreadfully poor area, lined with trash; the dumpsite not only for Santiago’s sewage but for it’s unwanted dogs. Gabriela has a set route and when the dogs recognize her car, they come running. Some are too scared to approach freely, some too sick…

A group of children called Gabriela to their house to look at the family’s sick dog. And there we found what must be the world’s saddest German Shepherd. Wearing a woolen jacket she lay cooking in the midday sun. From her thick leather collar hung two heavy, rusty springs to which she was chained.

Gabriela didn’t waste a second, removing the jacket and collar and helping the poor emaciated dog into the shade. Although not a qualified veterinarian, she got to work with emergency treatment. The dog’s ears were barely there, disintegrating (a condition I have yet to identify) and eaten by flies. Her eyes were oozing. Gabriela groaned with disgust and despair as she pulled apart the hair on the dog’s neck to find on her skin a thick black crust of flea eggs. Choking back tears, Gabriela implored the women watching how they could possibly keep a dog in such a condition. She was starved and they said she ate that day. The collar and chain they excused by saying she fights with the cats. The jacket was pure laziness so they don’t have to take it off during the hot days and put it back on for the cold nights.

After giving her food and water, we left with heavy hearts.

INSERT: Sleep was hard to come by that night and the next day, Gabriela returned to the house and picked up the German Shepherd. She took her to the municipality where they took a sample to determine the condition of her skin and ears… To kill the parasites, the owners doused the dog with petrol. She clawed so much on her ears in an attempt to clean herself that she opened the skin and the flies did the rest.

She has been adopted and is now in a home nearby where Gabriela lives.

After the gruesome German Shepherd discovery we continued further down the road to film Gabriela feeding more dogs, one of which was limping with a flattened paw from being driven over by a car. Then came a pack of about twenty dogs, all sizes, ages, breeds and temperaments. They rushed out to greet Gabriela and once the food was on the ground, it didn’t take long for a fight to break out. Multiple dogs laid into the omega dog, the lowest pack member, ousting her without food.

That was all in one morning, and the afternoon was about to get even more interesting…

We met up with Daniella, an AEDA activist who also feeds abandoned dogs in the country, in an area called Cajon del Maipo, south-east of Santiago. While picking up the food from someone’s home, we met a husky-German Shepherd mix strutting the streets. I was so scared of him I turned the other way when he approached me. Next thing I know he’s taking a chunk out of a smaller street dog, a terrier now screaming for his life. Daniella grabs the husky and tries every trick in the book to break up this very one-sided fight – fingers in the nose, in the eyes, prying the jaws apart, dousing them with water, punching, kicking…Finally, after about five minutes, the husky lets go and while Chris holds him back, the terrier runs for his life. Chris releases him too soon and he races in the direction of the terrier. I’m convinced this is the end of the little dog. It looks as though he’s escaped through a gate, but he’s fooled me as well as the husky. I look to my left and there he is, shivering and bleeding in the middle of a small shop. I go in to comfort him while onlookers watch with detachment and even amusement.

When we approach the owner of the husky he laughs it off and refuses to take any responsibility, pushing my camera down to stop me from filming. I find out later that the dog’s attitude is a direct result of his owner, who keeps him chained and mistreated.

We take the terrier to the nearest vet to have him stitched up. Daniella will pay the vet bills, and the dog will be returned back to the streets. It’s a hard life out here for street dogs.

And off we go down the road to “Cajon del Maipo” to feed more hungry dogs. Daniella, who broke up the fight, is about to break open an abscess on a Labrador puppy… She pulls off the scab and oh my God I’ve never seen so much puss in my life. Daniella is also not a trained veterinarian but the situation is so desperate here that a qualification is a luxury one can bypass with a phone call for advice on the job. She injected antibiotic into the wound and the puppy looked happy enough by the time we left.

At the end of the road, or rather, as far as Daniella can go down that road to feed dogs, we found 3 puppies old enough to be separated from their mother but not old enough to survive on their own. One had already died, and the remaining three were taken away and adopted out through AEDA.

And finally the day ended. Exhausted and emotionally tender, Chris and I found our beds, aware of how fortunate we are to have beds!