Providing grains of hope for Lhasa’s strays
Print Edition
Every dog has its day, and the expression is especially true for Marig, a former stray dog that once prowled the streets of Lhasa, but now has a name and a home.
Thanks to Tibet’s first stray dog adoption center, which opened late last year, 2,000 canines no longer have to worry about food and safety during the chilly winter on the Tibetan Plateau.
“We saved Marig from the brink of death,” said Dawa, a social worker at the center. “We made Tibetan medicine to cure his illness and prepared a single room where he could recover.”
Migmar Tsering, a director of the city’s appearance management committee, said stray dogs had become a nuisance for urban transport and a danger to tourists, which prompted the Lhasa government to invest 8.8 million yuan (US$1.45 million) to build the center.
Located 20 kilometers from Lhasa, the 13,000-square-meter center includes 96 kennels.
Dawa said the dogs ate three tons of food in the first two weeks the center was open.
Added to their standard food is Tibetan staple tsampa, which has ancient associations with dogs.
According to a Tibetan legend, dogs brought the grain of highland barley — the principal ingredient of tsampa — from faraway to ancient Tibetans. From these grains local people learned how to grow the crop.
In addition to feeding three sacks of tsampa and two sacks of dog food each day, Dawa makes two pots of broth daily as a winter treat for the dogs.
Before the center opened, the responsibility of caring for stray dogs mainly fell to local monasteries, where monks and other residents provide food.
According to a Tibetan saying, “Do not hurt dogs in monasteries, or it will break the heart of the Living Buddha.”
At Sera Monastery, Tsamlha, a 68-year-old local woman feeding dogs there, urged them to “eat some more, little puppies.”
However, monasteries’ capacity to care for strays is limited, and while they will still shelter stray dogs, the new center will relieve some pressure.
“The local government has full respect for the religious tradition, and whether to send dogs to the adoption center is up to each monastery,” Migmar Tsering said.
As for street dogs, public security bureaus and city administration offices are in charge of capturing and sending them to the center, where they are registered and quarantined before being given a kennel.
The center, which is currently full, allows for dog adoptions.
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