Street dog situation in Cusco

In Cusco there are a lot of street dogs, over 50.000! All these dogs have to live in the sometimes harsh conditions of the high up city Cusco. Everyday there are getting more and more dogs dumped out on the streets, which of course is not good for their mental and physical health. Most of these dogs get injuries for example getting hit by cars, get attacked by other dogs or people, food poisoning or rough weather conditions. 

Many people think that 50,000 street dogs all don't have an owner. This is not true. Research has shown that many dogs living on the streets here in Cusco actually have an owner. Owners put their dogs outside and provide little to no care for them. The dogs are usually bought as puppies for the children of the family, but when the dogs grow up and become larger, they are sometimes literally thrown into the garbage.

The Peruvian government does not address the ever-growing problem here in Cusco. The police do not intervene when they see a dog being mistreated, and because no one pays attention to it, nothing is done about the problem. Many communities here in Cusco want to do something about the problem, but without government support to finance something, communities can do very little.

Throughout Cusco, there are many shelters where more and more dogs end up. Many people just don't realize that these shelters are also becoming fuller and eventually have no place for the dogs. The conclusion shows that this is a big problem that many people want to address, but they don't have the opportunity to do so.