Scalea

[claire tudge]

Had a lovely trip last week dispite the weather, but one sight upset me, we had taken our grandson on the beach, and came accross several quite aggressive dogs one of which was dead and providing a meal for the others, I really wish something could be done about the desparate looking animals, a few of which followed us home in the hope of a bite to eat, surely in this day and age something could be done of a charitable nature, im in if anyone is interested.

[Mrs Teapot]

Ewww how horrible and how upsetting!

[uakelly]

If anyone had the Italian ability and ability to contact the appropriate authority in Scalea I'm sure that foreigners who bring money to the area could have their say on this. I for one would add my support to any move to have this concern brought to the authorities. Some are very wild and then pick on the weaker ones who really suffer! Surely a few dog round ups would be possible! They add to the problems at the bins as well or is it the bins that add to the problem of the dogs! I'm sure there was an attack on a child by one in Sicily and they were forced to take action some time ago! P.S Would support any group to make a point about the bins/rubbish as well.
We love Scalea but these two things let it down badly!

[billy]

I love Scalea but I have to agree with the rubbish situation. I can't recall seeing rubbish lying about in San Nicola, Praia, Belvedere, Diamante or any of the other towns in the Scalea area. So why should it happen in Scalea from time to time? Could it be because Scalea is larger than any of the surrounding towns and it is more difficult to control the amount of rubbish? I wish something could be done about this as,I feel,that this lets Scalea down.
As for the dog situation---Sometimes there are very few dogs about but on other occasions they are running around in packs. I was told last year that some holidaymakers take there dogs on holiday with them and then leave the dogs behind at the end of their holiday,and these dogs are left to fend for themselves. Whether or not there is any truth in this,I don't know. I think the idea of a few dog roundups would be a very good idea---perhaps this already takes place which might explain the inconsistency of the dog situation.
Having said this, I still wouldn't want my holiday apartment to be anywhere else as,for me, Scalea has everything.
Billy.

[claire tudge]

Wouldnt swap my place in Scalea for anything, shall be finding new and exciting places to explore there and further afield for years to come, would be good if us brits etc could do something positive for the area and the provision of some animal care would be a great start

[Doug]

Hi Claire,

A couple years ago we read that Italy has stray dogs all over. It's certainly true here where I see them in Scalea each time there, about 7 of them here in Santa Domenica and plenty along the road between the towns. They are all over. In the case of the rural ones, people seem to throw trash out to a dog who hangs out at the same place each day -- sooo, the trash and plastic mess grows. The strays here in town don't bother anyone including our dog who seems to have become the alpha male of the village. However, a long time dog that lived in the piazza was shot and killed this last winter, so there are some who don't enjoy dogs.

I think the trash and dog issues are related to one of the biggest problems here. That of poverty. When people have no money, they often dump trash along a highway to avoid landfill charges. I even encountered this way up in the mountains above Lagonegro Thursday near the Mt Sirino ski area....large piles of illegally dumped trash. The local towns are affected because poorer people pay fewer taxes and they then have fewer resources to clean up trash, deal with dogs, ecc.

Scalea has made an impression on me related to their budget troubles. The streets are some of the worst in the world! The scuola media where we take our Italian lessons, is so rundown that I doubt an American or British parent would allow their child to attend. The young Iraqi in the class asked us one day if America "has this kind of crap for schools"? Pretty sad, but when you have no money, you have no money. We've noticed an increase in graffitti everywhere including SDT and Scalea -- again, the officials probably have no budget to clean it up to help discourage it.

There may be some cultural issues around trash and dogs -- here are some thoughts from a woman in Napoli.

The Espresso Break: A Few Words About Trash

On a more positive note, there is a political action group in Scalea called Scalea Libera that has desires to clean up Scalea's image, protect the sea coast, promote tourism and other forward-thinking things, so maybe they will make some progress. You can check into them at Scalea Libera Perhaps they'd be interested in partnerships with folks like you with concerns for specific things. I'm not jumping into any such programs myself until my language skills do not embarrass me as much! Ciao

[claire tudge]

Couldnt agree more with the language skill, visiting twice a year is making progress very slow, I need to motivate myself and join a local class lol

[billy]

A wee word in Scalea's favour. In my five years in Scalea there have been many improvements. Much renovation work has been done to many of the condominiums, many repairs and painting of buildings has taken place. Many of the locals who used to hang about the streets are now in employment doing the renovation work. The pedestrianised area, which is very nice, has been completed in the last couple of years. The new swimming pool should be opening shortly. Scalea is a fairly large area and it will take time for all of the improvements to materialise. I agree with Doug in that the roads and pavements require work done on them but I am sure this will happen in time. Scalea has a lot going for it---the sea, the mountains, The Centro Storico, The shops (two new supermarkets opened just last year). My next visit can't come fast enough.
Cheers, Billy.

[claire tudge]

Couldnt agree more, certainly would not have a bad word said about the place, the issue with the dogs is from an animal lovers prospective and is certainly not a criticism, living in the Uk Im certaily not in any position to diss Italy with our many complex problems, just thought it would be nice to give something to the area we love so much, and the dog issue would not be too difficult to solve with a little support

[Doug]

Hi Again Claire,

I caught a photo of my favorite homeless dog that we see sometimes twice a day between SDT and Scalea. I call him white dog, but he's more a dirty yellow. He's very car savvy. Although I had to brake for him one day, he seems to make eye contact with you, the driver, like a human pedestrian, and he looks both ways at the traffic situation before crossing at the curve where he lives. He's a survivor. You can see some rubbish behind him where people pitch garbage to him to go thru for food.

Another dog is just entering Scalea near a gommista -- a black dog that only uses 3 of his legs, but sleeps in the gutter or is seen on the sidewalk. Again, a survivor because he was there last June. It always makes me smile to see these capable dogs doing well. The public tolerates them and obviously enough people feed them.

We're starting to give names to the street dogs in Santa Domenica -- like Shorty and Bella. Our dog Vince just ignores them. He's not one to play or fight with others. Boring, but safe. Ciao, Doug

[Margaret]

If you go to 'search' at the top of this site and put 'dogs' in you'll find that this has been talked about quite a few times. Feel a bit guilty as I should have followed it up more at the time. There was an Anglo-Italian Society (see details under postings under 'animals) and have just emailed them to see if they still exist and if there's anything can be done. My only excuse is that we haven't been to Scalea for ages so I guess 'out of sight, out of mind'. In passing, we used to have to go to the hospital at Cetraro quite often and there was always a pair of dogs living outside the entrance there - near the bar so I guess they got some pickings that way. The bar owner said a vet had seen them but that might have been to keep another nutty Inglese quiet. If anyone is passing there would love to hear if they're still there - one small black one and one small cream-coloured one who was lame in one leg. The bar people would know which ones as they'd been there for a long time - though maybe they've been replaced by others by now. Cetraro's worth a visit and it's only a hop up to the hospital - it's not in the old town but near the marina - you can't miss it, it's a really ugly building that looks like it's falling down - at least it was then - also curious if any tarting up has been done to it given that it's Scalea's nearest bigger hospital..

[Margaret]

The email failed so will try another route. Also, as far as I remember there was some sort of animal help group in Scalea. Anyone know anything about it? I seem to remember that when the problem got bad the commune would do a round-up. This is not nice to think about given the fate of those dogs (although might be better for those diseased etc) but it seems crazy doing that every so often and not tackling the root cause - which perhaps is as Doug says, poverty - i.e. no dogs spayed. Also, the dog problem is not exactly solved in the UK so a bit of pot and kettle. When it gets to dogs eating dogs though you'd think someone would tackle it. Anyone written to the commune? Might give it a try - though you get the horrible feeling you're just signing a lot of dogs' death sentences (anything to keep the tourists happy) and nothing would basically change. The only Italian TV programme I watch much (Forum) is always having stuff on about animals needing homes etc so it seems odd that no-one's addressed this problem on a national level.

[claire tudge]

Originally Posted by Doug

Hi Again Claire,

I caught a photo of my favorite homeless dog that we see sometimes twice a day between SDT and Scalea. I call him white dog, but he's more a dirty yellow. He's very car savvy. Although I had to brake for him one day, he seems to make eye contact with you, the driver, like a human pedestrian, and he looks both ways at the traffic situation before crossing at the curve where he lives. He's a survivor. You can see some rubbish behind him where people pitch garbage to him to go thru for food.

Another dog is just entering Scalea near a gommista -- a black dog that only uses 3 of his legs, but sleeps in the gutter or is seen on the sidewalk. Again, a survivor because he was there last June. It always makes me smile to see these capable dogs doing well. The public tolerates them and obviously enough people feed them.

We're starting to give names to the street dogs in Santa Domenica -- like Shorty and Bella. Our dog Vince just ignores them. He's not one to play or fight with others. Boring, but safe. Ciao, Doug

Maybe I will adopt him when we move out there as pensioners

[Mrs Teapot]

Off the top of my head there is some sort of international animal charity that send money out to help the street dogs. I seem to remember they are linked to (I think) Horley Dog Rescue. I don't think you find them on the Horley page but I think a google search somehow linked them.

Apolgies if this is old news.

[Mrs Teapot]

ps: forgot to say Horley deal with Greek dogs, not other countries - I believe so its the international dog welfare place you want to contact.

[Margaret]

The group I was thinking of that they talk about on Forum (the TV programme) is Amicicani but I think they are more into adoption and re-homing. The Italian Ente Nazionale Protezione Animali seems to have a section in Cosenza (c/o Sig. Vito Sabato, via A Monaco 22/b tel: 0984 27294. Have tried ringing but no joy but it's Saturday so will try in the week. The national address is: via Attilio Regolo 27, 00192 Roma with email of enpa@enpa.it so it might be worth a try to send them an email - maybe if they got enough they might wonder what's going on in Scalea (dogs eating dogs is really way out in a European country in 2010!). Has anyone written to the Commune? There were ENPA numbers in Catanzaro and somewhere else but no joy with either so will just try the Cosenza one again hoping it won't have been put there ten years ago or something. The point that needs to be got across is that it's not solving the problem by having some sort of mass round-up and canicide when it gets dire but something needs doing to stop it getting that far - maybe there's an export market (Vietnam?) for dogs' balls!! Sorry to be flippant but some of the dogs you see obviously need some vet attention and it's really not on for each year a new batch to turn up on the streets and suffer. Maybe if most of the people using this site sent a quick note to the Commune and an email to ENPA somebody might start thinking about the problem.