Land of the Strays is a short documentary about Lya Battle and her dog sanctuary in Costa Rica. Outside published an article about Battle a few years back.
Over the years I've lived in a few countries with significant stray dog populations: Cuba (1 month); The Dominican (2 months); Spain (3 months); Vanuatu (5 months).
In Playa Oliva, Spain, many homes had guard dogs which lived outside on fenced properties. At night, packs of wild dogs would hunt rabbit, cat, or whatever they could find. They'd spook the guard dogs, sending them into a frenzy, which was answered in kind by the pack until you had a cacophony of vicious barking that would last what felt like hours while you were trying to sleep.
I'd been hired to look after Blanche the cat, who was indoors with me, and I remember recording the howls and barks to share with the landlord to impress upon him the seriousness of the situation. Though technically I was not his tenant (my employer was), I was trying to help him, as he was renting the place out as a vacation spot and I thought he should speak to his neighbors about the situation.
Instead, the next day he turned up at the house with a rifle. I said, "Miguel, I'm a pet sitter. I'm not going to be shooting any dogs." He taught me how the rifle functioned and some nights I'd scare off large packs of the wild beasts by firing shots into the sky in the direction of the ocean, which was not much further than a stone's throw. Unsurprisingly, it was quite effective. It's the only real gun I've ever fired or even held.
