The Land of The Strays | Lya Battle

The Land of The Strays | Lya Battle 

He walked into my life with an arrogance and determination that would later become his trademark he just showed up at my doorstep and I looked into his big urgent eyes .



and I thought you've got to be somebody's dog you're not a stray you're too beautiful he was so you might need some food and maybe a check-up at the vet but we'll be on her way and walk around the neighborhood and for sure we'll knock on some doors and we'll find your home and boy was wrong .




I later called him also he was beautiful he was a shar-pei husky mix stubborn hard to handle and I ain't for sure was not gonna keep him I already had four dogs in my own which back then I thought was already in excess of dogs but so also was not going to be my dog however he was so beautiful I knew I'd find a home for him and it'd be easy and I I wasn't completely wrong .





I did find a great home for him seven times every time he was adopted he'd be returned within two weeks I'm sorry he keeps jumping into the neighbor's backyard I'm sorry I can't handle him he won't listen I'm sorry he barks at the kids I'm sorry he chases cats I'm sorry he digs up my garden I heard them all and and they were true because all these irritating qualities about also we're also the same qualities that made him this unique unapologetic self-proclaimed ruler of the universe .



And for that moxie he had my respect but I guess after seven failed attempts I was kind of thinking then I could have to keep this dog and then you think what options are there in store for all so I'm gonna put him back on the street no way I already knew how corrosive that could be I'm gonna take him to a shelter and by that time I had seen too many dogs in cages pacing anxiously as if they knew that there was an unspoken expiration date hanging over their heads and I thought no .

But hey what else is in store for a dog that hasn't found a home nothing so also and all his problems and headaches stayed but he also came with a bunch of very profound lessons one of them being that no being a stray isn't equivalent to being a sick flea-ridden mangy dog you can be a beautiful dog and be homeless because of people's indifference he also taught me what I think is probably one of my most important lessons he taught me that sometimes doing the right thing will push you so far out of your comfort zone that you might never find your way back but that that's okay too and so also stayed and other wonderful dogs came into my life and if I couldn't find a home for them they'd stay too and the more dogs I saw being overlooked the more dogs I saw getting discarded because it weren't the ideal dog the more my loathing for the system grew because yes dogs have become another one of our disposable items like plastic or obsolete electronics old shoes and in the back of my mind I kept thinking it's just not right why isn't anybody doing something how can this be acceptable how can all these wonderful dogs have that to look forward to and also I kept thinking well so why can't we have dogs live like sheep and goats on farms free regarded by humans but free being dogs and of course I tried to get information from people opinions some from experts and some from laymen and everybody came back with the same answer no no no you can't do that with dogs no no no dogs are pack animals and you put them all together they'll just go back to the wild mentality



and kill each other kill everything around no no no no I can't do that and I thought that doesn't sound like the dogs I know it has anybody tried and failed no no nope nope because we can't do that it's just all right and at the same time my house was getting full and by full I mean 80 a hundred dogs of wonderful dogs that nobody wanted and it came the day that my husband sat down and he said negative that's what he calls me we have to do something we can't keep harboring dogs and I know you don't want to stop but we're running out of room how about we take our dogs to your grandfather's fun we refurbish the old barn as her home and they won't be alone of course he must have seen in the face my eyes and they won't be alone we'll hire a family who live at your parents place at the farm and and they'll they'll take care of the dogs and I thought that was scary but it was my only option .



So I remember coming back we started working towards the plan but I wasn't ready I remember coming back from work on a Wednesday and they'd moved all the dogs to a farm and I came home to that empty house and the recollection that I I didn't know what was gonna happen to the dogs in the farm so of course I cried every day till that Saturday when I finally could drive up to the farm and when I got there oh I didn't know what to expect but but when I got there I was greeted by the same group of a hundred plus dogs that were always happy at my house being exactly the same lying around sniffing their butts chewing on sticks digging holes just happy and we went on a walk with all the dogs and we went up hills through pastures through the rivers and the dogs were happy they were being dogs by the end of that walk I knew not only that it could be done but that it had to be done and we had to do whatever it took in order to make it happen.



And I knew it wouldn't be easy but complicated doesn't start describe what this ride has been first starters we've had to stand their ground against the government that doesn't like us and doesn't want us around because we make them look bad you see Costa Rica is a bunch of it's a very pretty country scattered houses all around and you see one dog on the street and another one over there and maybe in a few blocks would meet another one you don't notice how many dogs are on the street looks fine no problem but when you know there's a property where you can actually see thousands of dogs together you start to wonder what's the government doing about this and the answer is nothing they're not doing anything so keep in mind our property is 355 acres it's not a small place the dogs are not confined but even though this is a huge farm we still have to deal with complaints brought about us by neighbors our neighbors our farms other funds dairy farms my dogs can't be imposing on their peace and quiet because their farms but yet people are uncomfortable we first complained I remember was sound pollution our dogs were creating sound pollution our dogs much like your dogs at home bark when they're excited when they hear something but usually they lie around they're lazy that's the same thing our dogs are the same thing so the authorities came and they measured they had to dismiss it then somebody came up with the theory that it's the poop their faeces are contaminating the floor.



The ground luckily we could prove that we rake their faeces three or four times a day we're always Ricki poop have no shortage of it and we put it into sacks the leftover sacks from their kibble and we ship it off to the appropriate processing place with the receipts to prove it so that was his miss then the Ministry of Health comes up and says nope it's the urine the dog's urine is seeping into the ground and it's compromising the aquifers and I thought you do realize there's thousands of cows around us who pee and poop constantly and you're not worried about them but you're worried about my dogs so yes what started as a hundred dogs has become fifteen sixteen hundred dogs fluctuates and yes it's become more complicated regardless of the government and the neighbors who come in and poison our dogs and cut our water lines and cut our fences but aside from all that ugliness there's the operating of the of this project to feed these dogs we buy sixty six pound sacks of food these these sacks cost about thirty thousand colonias which is about $54 the dogs eat 20 of these a day so that's just in food it's over a little over a thousand dollars then every dog is spayed and neutered that's twelve to fifteen dollars each operation depending on the size of the dog they are vaccinated yearly and that's from seven to ten dollars each every year then we have to pay salaries for the caretakers we have to pay for the up keeping of the property but you know we do it because it feels good because we know it's working because we have mountains full of happy dogs we do it because we have to because we can't stop doing it because as long as there are unwanted dogs coming into this world begging for love .

for  full interview watch the video or click on the link
click here