Monument to a homeless dog

I first wrote about Malchik in January 2006. He was one of an estimated 100,000 stray dogs that roam Moscow, abandoned by their owners because of economic hardships.

Demonstrating incredible intelligence, these dogs have learned how to use the public transit system to travel all over the city. They survive on the streets and in the subway stations, relying on the kindnesses of strangers for handouts.

Malchik lived near the Mendeleievskay metro station where many workers and commuters looked out for him. One day a young fashion model who was later committed to an insane asylum stabbed him to death. The people were so shocked and outraged by this act that a fund was started to build a monument to the friendly dog. People from all walks of life contributed to the fund for a bronze monument to be sculpted by noted artist, Alexander Tsiga.

The statue unveiled earlier this year at the Mendeleievskay station is called “Sympathy.” The monument reminds residents of Moscow that homeless dogs, unprotected from human cruelty, call for humane treatment.

From Moscow Photos

Comments

[rosemary]

I had heard about this particular dog.....the story is both sad and uplifting. There are so many unwanted dogs (and cats) all over the world...too bad they can't raise some money to help these poor dogs.

[schnoodlepooh]

I wish I could help them all. It makes me so sad that there are so many dogs without homes. I am also outraged that the crazy fashion model chick would stab a friendly defenseless creature. It's comforting to hear that there were people who cared about the dog enough to erect a monument to him. It's just too bad that it won't solve the basic problems, but maybe it will get people to think about it just a bit.

[gogi]

Thats a great story, shows that people really do care about dogs even when they dont own one.

[Coll]

Somehow a sad story but a lovely one none-the-less. Dogs are always teaching us.

[jill]

That is the first time I heard about that dog. It is nice that the people did that. That is rare.

[Laura]

It's nice that they honored the memory of that dog. It would have been nicer if they found a home for the dogs left out on their own.

[Tracey]

What a beautiful monument...but such terribly sad circumstances. I wish people would not do such horrible things to animals.

[Tina]

What a beautiful statue and what a beautiful thought.

[Tabor]

This is the first time I have stopped by and found this post most interesting. It tells us lots of stuff about man and animal.

[Deborah]

Hi there,

I came across your site from a Technorati favs exchange you've been part of. I'm glad I did! This is what's so nice about an experiment like that, finding blogs you never would have otherwise.

I'm a HUGE dog lover. My baby (she is to me) was a rescue dog...a woman using her for a puppy mill to breed Shitzus. It gives me a knot in my gut to hear horror stories like this. Very sad that dogs roam the streets homeless like that there.

Well, I've fav'd you in Technorati.

My username is fastfastlane, and link to my fav is
http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtnadd=http://www.fastlanetransport.ca/blog

Cheers!