Spay as you go

摘要

It is one of the first things that visitors to Santiago, the Chilean capital, ask: "Why are there so many dogs everywhere?" Patricia Cocas, founder of Pro Animal Chile, an animal-rights group, reckons that some 180,000 stray hounds wander the city of six million people; a further 80,000 are let out by their owners to roam as they please. The area around the presidential palace is a favoured hangout. Most mutts are harmless enough-Chile is free of rabies, which helps explain why they are tolerated. But some attack passers-by or chase cars down Santiago's main thoroughfare, the Alameda, occasionally ripping tyres with their teeth.