Stray dog - please help me feel less guilty!

[Jambutterpeanut]

So I’m currently travelling and went on a hike today from the next town to where I’m staying. A little dog we see on the way to the mountain started following us and basically hiked the whole mountain with us, stopping when we stopped, continuing when we did. We got super lost on the way down and ended up going back a different way with no idea where we were going until we ended up by a little food place which we ate at (gave her some food and water too!) then she continued following us as we decide we may as well walk the extra hour home. We ended up on a big main road with another dog in tow that kept pestering her at the food place (which she wasn’t happy about!) down the main road, my thoughts were that we would take her to the village we are staying at and find a vets or a shelter to see if they can take her in or do anything for her as she looked like she’d recently had puppies. I would have loved to have adopted her if she was definitely a street dog but realistically wouldn’t be able to anyway as I’m away for a few months and leaving this country in 2 days! Anyway as we were walking a police car pulled us over and said we shouldn’t be walking along this main road as it’s too dangerous, and a bus full of people behind said get on this bus. I didn’t want to get on it but my partner jumped on and the bus pulled off before I could even consider asking about the dog getting on. I feel so guilty about leaving her on the main road, with the other dog too, and I suppose just want some reassurance that she will probably be ok or maybe go with the other dog even though she didn’t even like him pestering her! I feel really upset as she was such a sweet dog and the main road could be so dangerous!

And she was probably a fair few miles from where she followed us from originally if that’s where she usually stays, would she find her way back?! She didn’t have a collar or anything on

The reality is that her life will be short and probably brutal. Streetdogs have a tough time unless someone feeds them and do get injured by traffic.

You’ll always be thinking about her - honestly I’d go back and try and find her. Travel to the UK can be arranged and lots of charities (like Wild at Heart) help abroad, I wonder if they do where you are?

But then I broke my heart having to leave a tiny stray kitten trapped on a cathedral ledge in Sicily (in 42c heat). It was mewling pitifully and had been for over 24 hours. Locals wouldn’t try as it was just a cat. I couldn’t hire a fruit-picker thing to get it myself and the local rescue couldn’t help either.

Where would I even start to try and find her? We left her a couple of hours ago and it’s dark now and I don’t have a car or anything here. I wanted to go looking for her earlier and my boyfriend said I’m being ridiculous and could get ourselves killed by keep walking down the big road

@Berkeys that’s heartbreaking!!

She’s one of many. The awful thing is that the kindness of strangers feeding stray dogs and cats prolongs their miserable lives and they are able to breed, thus perpetuating the cycle of more unwanted creatures on the street.

If they could all be saved it would be wonderful but the harsh reality is that they can’t.

There used to be a British woman who every year went to a place in Greece where there were stray cats.

She organised charity events all year to raise money to be able purchase supplies for the cats whilst she was out there.

Each year the cat problem became worse with more and more cats on the street.

The woman died. The cat population decreased. Her feeding them for a few months of the year had led to them breeding and producing litters which increased the feral population, many who had health problems as they were inbred.

Her time and efforts would have been better spent in organising neutering.

Alas, do gooders and ignorance sometimes go hand in hand.