Caught

I cross the Turó Park, the beautiful garden of Rubió and Tudurí, and in a sunny corner I observe an unusual scene: a child of months takes his first steps on the grass while his parents, handsome and young, encourage his genes with the emotion of the species One would expect to see a dog defecating, urinating, digging, jogging stupidly in search of a ball just a little more stupid; and yet, there is a child standing up for life. The scene is random, but not only. Since the last reform, Turó Park is a dog-free garden, that is, a decontaminated and calm area . And, unfortunately, an enclave. Something closer to home ended months ago the reforms of three other parks, conventional, but also pleasant and necessary. In all of them the space reserved for the inexorable dog kindergartens is superior to that reserved for children's games. Without, of course, that dimension means for most dog owners nothing but a humiliating formality: when they think they leave the ghetto, and even with a grimace of pride and displacement on the face.

The ease with which dogs have taken over public space in a few years and how they have forced their landfills to be built there is absolutely mysterious, without adults, who are currently more numerous than dogs, having uttered only one protest. Even if it were to demand compensation crumbs in the form of taxes for monopoly segregation of a considerable part of everyone's space. It is extraordinary that taxes are already provided for robots, and, at least in Spain, a son of a bitch has not yet been born to pay them. Or that the so-called environmental taxes do not provide for the common relief of aggressions inflicted by dirt, noise and even the dangers of dogs, which last year killed five people in Spain , injured an undetermined number of them and made them dirty, they irritated, bothered and frightened millions.

I do not know the psychiatric reasons that explain the growing fondness for pets - which in Spain, a great country, is somewhat less feverish than in France, Great Britain or Germany - although all of them are linked to narcissism . But whether or not its origin is known, epidemics must be treated. And while we wait for the improvement of Assistant, Siri, Alexa and other intelligent, discreet and hygienic companion animals, we need urgent political measures.

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