Luckiest Dog in Kathmandu

This morning I spotted a new friend at the hotel, a dog named ... Maya — which astute readers of yesterday's post will recognize as the name of the safa tempo driver I described yesterday. It's a lovely name and this seems like a lovely dog.

Maya knows how to work the room. She walks around the hotel lobby and outside in the courtyard where there are tables and tidbits. She is fat and happy. She is not your typical Nepali mongrel.

Kathmandu has a wild dog problem — this in addition to its mean monkey problem and its abandoned cow problem. Packs of wild dogs roam the streets and alleys of Nepal's capital city, and they carry rabies and (from the looks of it) mange.

The cows are especially pathetic. Since Nepal is primarily Hindu and cows can't be killed, some people simply abandon their animals when they're through with them, especially since the earthquake in 2015. Cars must swerve to avoid hitting the animals, this in a bustling city of three million people. Sometimes people take pity on the cows, but more often than not, fate is not kind to these beasts.

But back to Maya. The wild dogs I've seen run in packs, bark at cars, and (especially in the warm afternoons) curl up and nap wherever they like, including the street. But Maya walks proudly ... and alone. She is plump and well-mannered.  I'd love to know her story. Is she a favored pet? She's the only golden lab I've seen here, so I don't think she's ever been on the street.  Maya is, at least as far as I can tell, the luckiest dog in Kathmandu.