Several days ago, my sister returned from a 8-day field-trip during which she and her course-mates visited several Latvian countryside households. During their stay, they met some woman who lived nearby. As I was told, this woman had lost all her previous property in a fire accident and is now trying to build back her life from zero
Despite all the problems, she takes care not only of herself and her family, but also finds the time and effort to help those who are even in worse situation than she is. She takes care of abandoned animals – several dogs, a sheep, a goat and even a horse. The students got really attached to the woman and her unbelievable kindness so once their internship ended, they decided to give her all the money that had left. Knowing that those were approximately 50 students, it was possible to raise quite decent amount of cash. And yet, it is not even close to what would be needed to help this kind of people. The best help, of course, would be preventing the animal abandonment as much as possible Utopic, unfortunately.
A Vidzeme University student, kindly greeted by one of the local dogs. © Marija Markule
One night, I received a call from a very dear friend of mine. She was drunk and absolutely desperate. Her grandparents had sent her dog to the animal shelter and there was nothing she could do about it. This kind of news made me upset. Her family was now one of them – people who start to take care of a pet and ,when it gets too difficult, they give up. No principles, no nothing – animal is just a toy in man’s hands. In Latvia, there are 26 animal shelters where thousands of animals are left by their irresponsible owners or found wandering on the streets.
Some of them have been taken away from abusive owners and living in terrible conditions. Not all of them find their new homes fast enough, some of them often lose their faith in human and can no longer adapt to other owners and become aggressive and dangerous. These are the saddest cases when animal has to be put down. I’ve experienced two dramatically different cases of animal abandonment in other countries. In Germany, you will barely notice any animals wandering around. My sister, who lived in Uelzen at that time, wanted to have a cat and after she couldn’t find any homeless one on the street, she went to the pet shelter and took the only cat that was there. Meanwhile, in Georgia, I noticed lots of abandoned animals on the streets. They were everywhere, simply walking around. Nobody really seemed to be bothered. In my opinion, Latvia is somewhere inbetween – realizing that homeless animals are indeed a problem and yet unable to solve it completely.
Luckily, as many Latvians seem to be irresponsible towards their pets, it feels like there is an equal (or probably greater) amount of people who feel that helping and taking care of animals is their duty. Whenever any of Latvian animal shelter raises donation, the needed amount of money is usually raised. Latvians often help animal shelters as much as they can. Young people go volunteering – lots of dogs need to be taken out for a walk every day and this is where helping hands are really useful. Many people really look for their new pets in the shelters and the Internet is always full of indignant comments whenever some cases of abused animals are brought up. Besides, having a pet has always been a custom of Latvians. If you live in a farm or a house, at least one dog is a must. If you live in an apartment, you consider having a cat. If your landlord doesn’t allow any pets, you are frustrated. I could try to remember at least a few of my friends that don’t have a pet in their homes. There aren’t really any I could think of. One of the best Latvian novelists, Regina Ezera, has a book titled “A Man Needs Dog”. “And a dog needs man,” I would like to add.
Animals have always been an important part of my life. They have been present since I remember myself. There is a story of my first cat, Maksis, who was actually born in the crib of me and my sister when we were infants ourselves. Since then, we’ve always had many pets in our small 2-room flat. Cats, dogs and rabbits. It’s not like we were collecting them. No, the animals rather found ourselves. Some of them were in trouble – one dog was about to get shot, another kitten was found alone on the street in a rainy day. Currently, my mother lives with 2 cats and 2 dogs. No matter how difficult were and still are our circumstances, animals are always taken care of. And you get the best possible reward for your effort. There is no other feeling that could compare with the one that overwhelmes you when returning home from several months of absence and an incredibly happy dog greets you with all its endless love. The level of trust these animals give you after a proper care is something priceless. Too bad many people are not capable of appreciating this. And while we have to be worried about some Latvians treating animals badly, I surely believe that the overall level of our values and morality has to be put under doubt as well.
One of our cats, saved as a kitten. Obviously, very attached to its owners by now. © Justine Vernera
Few links to animal shelters in Latvia: