Each morning as Muscovites board their trains each day, heading to and from work, their travelling companions are none other than some of the 30,000 stray dogs in Moscow!
Like their suburban humans, the strays commute to the city center to earn their food, and return home each night.
Thousands of stray dogs wander the streets of Moscow every day. According to some scientist who has been observing them, and believe that this phenomenon began after the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. As industrial complexes moved from the city to the suburbs, the strays had migrated to the suburbs as the humans did.
But the dogs soon realised that there are more opportunities in the city, so like their humans, they go in search of rewards. So they follow the example of the humans and learnt to travel on the subway. They seem to have figured out which stop to get off! When I travel on a bus or train, I wait for Mummy to say – OK, let’s go and I jump off her lap, knowing it’s time to get off. But these dogs seems to figure it out themselves!!! Incredible.
But they are also do “doggy” things – they can fall asleep and miss their stops!!! 🙂
And the best thing about all of this is that the commuters do not seem to mind. They even give up their seats for a tired dog.
With capitalism booming there’s more to go around and it seems these dogs never go without. Besides scavenging leftovers, the public also “feeds” them. They sure are smart dogs. They trick the humans into dropping their food, or they use their eyes to look endearingly at someone, especially the children.
It seems the dogs are also using the trains as shelters. The overall public are sympathetic towards them. They have built shelters to help them survive the cold winters. And animal rights lobbyists make sure the funds for dog shelters are spent as planned to avoid culling. If only some of the Eastern European countries would do the same.
That much you can say about the Muscovites.
May’s comment: There have been so many articles written about these Moscow dogs. Here are just two.
Life With Dogs: Russian dogs commute to work by subway
The New Yorker: Moscow’s Metro Dogs
