Albania's strays are not outcasts

Kitten of the Korn (Berat Albania)
One thing you might notice as you travel in Albania is the amount of stray cat and dogs.  People do own dogs and cats as pets but the majority of animals you find day to day are strays.  They are everywhere.  From our first night in Tirana, we came across a beautiful blond dog.  And in every city since, there have been animals.  In Berat, you could find cats almost everywhere.  In Vlore and Durres, you were more likely to find doggos.


While in Shkoder, a person who will remain nameless - let's call her Roofield - specifically cut up her dinner and kept it with her to feed the doggos.  The hilarious part was when she couldn't figure out why the dogs were then following her around.  She just "doesn't get it".
"Roofield" fed "Earl" in Shkoder and was
 surprised when Earl followed us downtown.
Earl also likes his ears scratched and belly rubbed.

Researching another topic of Albania, I came across this article about how the Ottomans treated animals.  It all goes back to a story in the Q'ran.  The Prophet Muhammad (peace be onto him) told a story about two women.  One good and one evil.

The good one stayed away from drink, gave to charity, and prayed five times a day.

The evil one did none of those things.

But the good women allowed her cat to starve while the evil woman threw out food for animals everyday.  That is why when they both died, the good woman went to hell and the evil woman went to heaven.

When his followers questioned why this was so, the Prophet explained that animals have no ability to reason so if you hurt an animal, you cannot ask for forgiveness.  Thus, you are damned.
Stray dog in Vlore, Albania

When the Ottomans ruled Albania, Albanians integrated this into their own culture.  Later the Ottoman Empire later turned against their canine friends (the Istanbul Dog Massacre) and some speculated that the fall of the Ottoman Empire was because of how they treated their four-legged counterparts.

Adorable pooch who came out to the
beach to get warm in the Durres sun
Maybe you're thinking that this sounds like a 3rd world type of problem letting cats and dogs run "wild" but after a quick search, I found that 7.6 MILLION companion animals are placed in shelters each year.  Of those, 56% of dogs are euthanized and 71% of cats are euthanized. 

But in Albania, there are no dog catchers. The dogs and cats actually navigate the traffic better than I do.  Cars will stop for them.  Many have tags showing that they have been neutered or spayed.  Albania takes care of its animals.  The strays that we have encountered have been gentle and sweet. They are not fat but they are not emaciated either. They are Albania's strays but they are not outcasts.  They belong to every Albanian - and even to the two crazy teachers who visit.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Albania and Cellular Freedom

Image
As soon as we got off the plane a week ago and went through customs, there was a Vodafone store.  Immediately, I took Schofield to it and we both got SIM cards and a 30-day phone plan.  One of MANY Vodafone stores in Albania See when I was in China and Japan two summers ago, I was surprised to see that you could go into any corner store and get a SIM card.  Outside of the United States, all  phones are unlocked.  But in the United States, we have succumbed to cellular feudalism. You want to use AT&T, probably will have to get an iPhone. Want a Google Pixel phone, you must sign-up for Verizon. Want to afford your phone?  Then you sign a year or 2-year contract to get a good deal.  We sign these contracts and buy these devices and give our loyalty to these corporations.  But is it the best way? I specifically bought an unlocked phone before I left; I made sure that it was GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) frequency because GSM is the frequency used in Europe
Read more

My Albanian Thanksgiving

To be honest, I forgot that yesterday was Thanksgiving until I logged onto Facebook and saw all the posts.  So to keep with tradition, I will say why I am thankful: I am thankful that the DeMaso International Study Fellowship thought that our grant was worthy of funding; I am thankful that the family of which we are renting an apartment here in Tirana came to dinner with us; I am thankful that I got to not only try traditional Albanian food but also hear stories of life under Communist dictatorship and the civil war that followed; I am thankful that Albania has welcomed us with open arms - from the shopkeeper across the street to the waiters at every cafe/restaurant who help us order when we stumble on foreign cuisine to the guy who helps us get a parking space in Tirana (no seriously, the parking in this city is insane).   Everywhere we have gone, Albanians are pleasantly surprised that we have chosen their country to explore.  According to our host Eslo, most people only sto
Read more

Technology and Travel

I was fifteen when I first traveled abroad.  A friend invited me to go to Spain with her Spanish club from school. Since this was 1994, there was no internet to book tickets.  There was no Google maps to figure out where to go.  There was a phone attached to wall in my parent's house that I called to organize my flights.  There was a travel guide book from the library I used to learn about certain cities in Spain.  But that was it. Yesterday, I landed in Albania's capital city of Tirana.  Upon exiting customs, there was a Vodophone store, one of the major cell phone carriers in Albania.  There I could purchase a SIM card and a cell phone plan: 400 minutes, 5G of data for 30 days for the price of $10.   I used Google maps to find my way from the airport to the apartment I rented (from AirBnB, an online site that allows you to find private rooms/apartments to rent).  I could also call the people who were renting the apartment to us to let them know that we landed and w
Read more