Stray Gods In Cuba – Stray Gods In Cuba

Mo májá léyìn o jàn án nígi, èmi náà lo jàn nígi

“If you hit the dog that walks by my side with a stick, it’s me you’re hitting with a stick”

Yoruba Proverb

 

Stray dogs around the world are neglected creatures often victims of human atrocities. Many die of starvation or illness, others are run over by cars. But starting in 2018 in Cuba, a new strategy has made the lives of thousands of street dogs safer, who roam the streets of the island,  doze in the shadow of the porticoes or linger outside restaurants searching for leftovers: stray dogs have now been “adopted” by local institutions and have official identity documents to wear around their collars, containing their names, information about the animal, living place, medical information and details about their character.

Cuban’s love for dogs, on the other hand, has ancient roots: when in the sixteenth century the Spaniards first arrived in the Americas, they found at least twenty different breeds of dogs.

According to the Yoruba tradition, brought over by slaves and handed down to present times, now part of modern social customs, dogs are sacred animals and should never be mistreated.

Also for this reason, despite the life of a street dog can never be considered easy, Cubans do not turn their backs on their strays and – even in the hardest moments, when, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, hunger and despair  pushed the inhabitants of the island to feed on the cats, whose population was decimated – they have always welcomed and protected dogs.