Families from Mexico are in Tucson selling puppy dogs, although Tucson already has an animal jam of its own with a growing stray dog population.
Our objective in Tucson was primarily to gather our own preliminary information on the stray dog situation in the city as well as Pima County. Our first stop was the Mission San Xavier del BAC on tribal grounds.
The Mission itself is beautiful and peaceful with a mountain shrine next to it. We came across 3 loose dogs on-site. Two of the dogs were on the backside of the mission and they seemed to belong there. However, it is difficult to tell without having spoken to anyone, whether they are truly stray, or live on the Mission property and are taken care of.
We saw a few other strays on the tribal land as well that were not near any dwellings.
We moved on to combing neighborhoods on the south side near the airport. In a very random pattern we came across no less than 10 small dogs roaming the streets in a one block radius; another single dog on the street, outside of a closed fenced lot. This dog was wary of us, but not afraid. We saw a handful of other strays during our drive. Remember, we came across these dogs without any guidance from local rescues or authorities.
This indicates to us that there appear to be some loose dog issues in the city of Tucson. If these dogs are owned but loose, or community dogs, it begs the question of spay and neuter. Are these dogs spayed and neutered or are they roaming and re-populating the streets? We don’t know, but we would like to investigate the area further.
As evening drew near and we ended our search, we passed through an intersection where we spotted a car parked on the corner with people holding “pupies (sp) for sale” signs. We turned around and went back to investigate. I took my camera and talked with them. They agreed to allow me to film the interaction. A small boy was holding a Rottweiler mix puppy in hopes that I’d want to buy him for $30.
After some questions, I found that the girl and 2 small boys (not sure of the relationship, could be brothers) came to town to sell 3 puppies and that the mamma and the dad were at home with the girl’s mother. They couldn’t afford to take care of the puppies, and have little money, so the sale of the puppies would help them financially. There was also a beautiful gray pit bull (Princess) next to the car which was owned by the girl’s boyfriend who was sitting in the car until the end of our visit.
I asked if there were other puppies and the young boy went to the car and retrieved another from the floor of the backseat. The girl let me know that she had sold the third one shortly before our arrival.
Read the whole WA2S Films: Celebrates American Stray Dogs Tour blog here: http://www.wa2s.org/wa2s-films-celebrate-american-stray-dogs-tour
Huge thank you to tour sponsor: JezWater – Hydrate + Rescue
http://www.jezwater.com
Camera:
Deanna Vollano
2nd Camera:
John Robinson
EP, Producer, Director, Editor:
Tom McPhee
c. 2015 – 2017 All Rights Reserved
World Animal Awareness Society
http://www.wa2s.org/film–tv
818.561.5109 LA
source