Lya Battle
Why every dog deserves to be loved with Lya Battle • Animals & Us E19
Lya Battle built a sanctuary for 2,000 strays by refusing to accept that abandonment had to be permanent.
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Lya Battle
Lya Battle built a sanctuary for 2,000 strays by refusing to accept that abandonment had to be permanent.
Hear this story
Lya Battle grew up in Ghana with a biologist father who taught her that every creature deserved respect and had a place in the world. By kindergarten, she was fighting classmates who destroyed anthills, learning early that cruelty often came from ignorance rather than intent. When she moved back to Costa Rica as a child, she didn't yet see the dogs living on the streets as homeless. It took one abandoned dog with an injured eye to change everything. After veterinary treatment, no one came to claim him. Lya realised people could abandon animals, and that shelters and kill facilities were not the answer. She made a choice that would reshape her life: any dog that came to her would stay until it found a home.
Within years, her small backyard housed over 100 dogs. When a neighbour's construction forced them to move, her husband Álvaro proposed converting her family's abandoned mountain farm into a sanctuary instead of watching more dogs die on the street. Lya named it Territorio Saguates, deliberately reclaiming a local slur for street dogs to teach people these animals were valuable survivors, not garbage. She discovered that free-range dogs, spayed and neutered in large numbers, didn't turn savage but stayed pack-oriented and content. Today the sanctuary cares for around 2,000 dogs across 355 acres.
The government has fought her at every turn, even reclassifying the sanctuary as an amusement park because they had no category for what she had built. Lya credited her ADHD and a childhood where nothing was treated as a disaster with giving her the focus and stubborness to keep going. She works a full-time job, donates everything beyond her own bare expenses to the dogs, and has never taken a salary. Visitors often cry walking through the mountains with the pack, overwhelmed by how many dogs have no homes and by how broken the system is. Her final message is simple: humans created dogs and bred them into dependence on us. We made them homeless. We have the tools and empathy to fix it. We must.
“I could die tomorrow and I've already done what I was supposed to do. It's a very liberating feeling.”
“I know they don't care. I know the ones that do care can't care because the system is not designed for them to care.”
“If this universe provided me with something, it was with stubbornness.”
The hero, today
Lya learned early that most cruelty in the world comes from ignorance rather than evil intent, which shaped how she approaches both the dogs and the people who abandon them. After one abandoned dog came into her care, Lya realized she could not send adoptable dogs to shelters where they would live in cages or be killed, so she committed to keeping any dog that came to her until it found a home. Lya chose the name Territorio Saguates deliberately to teach people that street dogs were not shameful but valuable survivors worthy of pride, the same way Costa Ricans take pride in toucans and sloths. The free-range model works because spayed and neutered dogs in large numbers naturally stay with the caretakers and each other, and when conflicts happen, most can be resolved by distracting the dogs rather than separating them. Lya prioritized giving dogs a good life now rather than waiting for perfect conditions, because if she had waited until everything was organized, thousands of dogs would have died on the street while she prepared. Dogs should not be homeless because humans created their dependence on us, bred them into different forms, and then abandoned them; fixing this is not someone else's responsibility but belongs to every person with tools and empathy to help.
Yes. Lya Battle is a real person who shared their own story in their own words. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit that shares first-person stories of overcoming adversity, told with the person's consent.
Kintsugi Heroes, a registered Australian not-for-profit. Every story is shared with the hero's own consent and reviewed under Kintsugi Heroes' trauma-informed content standard before it goes public.
Lya learned early that most cruelty in the world comes from ignorance rather than evil intent, which shaped how she approaches both the dogs and the people who abandon them.
After one abandoned dog came into her care, Lya realized she could not send adoptable dogs to shelters where they would live in cages or be killed, so she committed to keeping any dog that came to her until it found a home.
Lya chose the name Territorio Saguates deliberately to teach people that street dogs were not shameful but valuable survivors worthy of pride, the same way Costa Ricans take pride in toucans and sloths.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 00:03
Welcome to another episode of Animals and Us, where we explore and honor the awesomeness of animals and our relationships with them. Today's guest is Leah Battel, co-founder of the world-famous Land of the Strays sanctuary in Costa Rica. Despite constant challenges, Leah's organization has rescued, sterilized, and rehomed tens of thousands of dogs and currently cares for 2,000 dogs at its unique free-range mountain refuge. Hello, Leah, and welcome to Animals and Us.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 00:50
Thank you, thank you for the time. Thank you for inviting me.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 00:53
Oh, my absolute pleasure. I just love, love the work you do in Costa Rica.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 00:59
Thank you. Yeah.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 00:59
Can we start this interview with your childhood? Can you paint a picture of your childhood, where you grew up and how your love for animals began?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 01:09
That's Paleolithic time. No. I can't remember a time when I wasn't exposed to animals from a very young age. My parents met in Canada. My mom was Costa Rican and she'd never left the country. She says she hadn't even gone to, some of the beaches in Costa Rica. When she graduated, my grandfather wanted to send her, because she was a great student, she wanted— he— he's— she deserved a better education, sent her to Canada. She met my dad there. So about 8 years later, after they got married, I was born. And I was only 6 months old when my parents decided they were gonna take a job with the— they were already working for the university, Toronto University, and they were gonna take this program in Ghana, Africa, teaching, um, teaching university teachers. They— one of the, um, one of the, um, dictators had been ousted, and all the support, the international support, had sort of pulled out with them. And, um, and Canada was sort of trying to fill in, I guess, other countries too. But that's where my parents were. So I was 6 months old living on the Ivory Coast in Africa. My father, I'm gonna say was, he's still alive, but he doesn't practice, biologist. So every animal and every, every plant, everything on the planet was interesting. And he taught us to love everything and respect everything. And he, I remember being a baby still and understanding that everything had a job and was part of an ecosystem.
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The free-range model works because spayed and neutered dogs in large numbers naturally stay with the caretakers and each other, and when conflicts happen, most can be resolved by distracting the dogs rather than separating them.
This conversation includes a childhood among animals, fighting for the ants, the dog with cherry eye, the numbers grew at home, moving to the mountains and reclaiming the word saguate.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 02:56
Right.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 02:57
And everything connected. So to me, I never grew up sort of immersed in this religious belief where man is here to dominate and control the earth and everything in it was created for man. No.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 03:14
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 03:14
I, I didn't grow up in that world. So to me, every little insect, every little animal was another sibling in a different category, but equally deserving.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 03:30
Yeah. And animals mattered. Every animal matters.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 03:33
Everyone, every single— I used to get into horrible fights. I remember kindergarten, and it was an old house.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 03:42
I don't remember.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 03:43
It was an old, old house. And so there was a great big backyard. It was a beautiful old house, and that's where our kindergarten was. And of course, there were— in the garden, there were anthills. And, um, and it was normal to see kids poking the anthill to see all the little ants come out. And I felt devastated because I knew all the work that had gone into it. So It was their, maybe not evil on their part, just ignorant, but it was a very early wake-up call to the fact that a lot of the cruelty that goes on in this world comes from ignorance and not from evil. But I used to get into huge fights, fist fights with my kindergarten classmates. So yeah, that was me.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 04:36
It's interesting. So your parents encouraged you to really appreciate animals as individuals and that they do matter. Yeah, it's interesting.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 04:45
Never, never kill anything.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 04:46
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting. Some of the guests I've had on Animals and Us don't— had parents or had a childhood almost devoid of any influence and contact, connection with animals, and yet they were just instinctive, instinctively loved animals. But you had, you had the probably the nature and, and the nurture, the influence of your mother.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 05:09
I was lucky. I had both. But I think most people, babies, children gravitate towards animals. It's the adults who stop them. Like, no, no, don't touch that. Oh no, that could bite you. Oh no, that's dirty. You don't know where that— And that is what starts— those are little building blocks for the, I think, the separation between species. Yeah. The disconnection. Yes. The disconnection.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 05:35
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 05:36
Unfortunately.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 05:37
Yeah. And when did you move to Costa Rica?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 05:40
I was about almost 5, 4 or 5 years old when we moved back here. And the idea was always to go back to Canada. We actually came back here when I was about a year or so. We came down to Costa Rica for my brother to be born. Then we went back up to Ghana. And we were going to come back to Canada. There, my parents' life was there. And my mom was an only child. My father had 6 siblings in Canada. And, but I guess she got, well, she must have got homesick. Mom must have gotten homesick, and she convinced dad to come down here. And my poor dad came down here without knowing a word of Spanish, without being able to be employed anymore because he wasn't, he was He was a foreigner, so he could own things, he could own land, but he couldn't work for a salary. So he, he had to start to learn and he became a farmer, but he had no idea. So it was, um, it was quite an, quite, quite an adventure.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 06:45
Hmm.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 06:46
Hmm.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 06:47
And as you, you grew up, you realized that people cared for some dogs a lot more than other dogs. Can you tell us about any experience that, experiences that led you to that? Realization.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 07:01
In fact, I used to think people, everybody loved dogs and cats because that's everybody had either a dog or a cat. And I was painfully aware of the fact that nobody likes snakes or toads or lizards or spiders. So I always gravitated towards those animals and those were my pets and those were the animals that I cared for. And dogs and cats were kind of out of the radar because I didn't feel that they needed the attention. And I grew up in a, in a nice neighborhood and very sort of protected in that sense. We'd walk out and I'd see dogs, but it, it was normal. It still is, unfortunately not as much, but people would just open the door, let their dog out, have do his business outside and then come back in. So seeing a dog on the street didn't mean it was homeless. It just meant he's walk, he's taking his morning walk. Yes. And I wasn't that young anymore when it sort of hit me like a ton of bricks, when I sort of went past the bubble of my childhood and I realized, no, a lot of dogs are not doing well on the street and a lot of dogs do not have homes. It became a reality I wasn't comfortable with. But it hadn't hit me personally. And it came face to face with me when— I had lived in apartments. When I left my parents' home, I went to apartments. And I loved my life in apartments. I had no responsibility, just pull the door, leave, and come back whenever I wanted. And that's the way I wanted it. I did not want kids. I knew I didn't want children because I wanted that liberty. I didn't want anybody to depend on me. And Álvaro, my husband, he knew, and he was okay with it. And we decided— he decided to flip a house. And so we had to live on the house for a while, in the house for a while, and it had a little garden. And one day a dog came over, and it had what they call cherry eye. And so it's one— it's sort of a little protruding bulge on, on, on their tear ducts. And it looks pretty uncomfortable. And I have a cousin who's a vet. And I called him. It wasn't smartphone yet, but we had the little Nokias, and I called him and I go, listen, I've got a dog that has this and this and this and this. Can you fix it? And he goes, yeah, it sounds very, very simple. I think it's what you're describing. I think it's this. Bring him over. So I put him in the car. I was sure he had a family because he was a good-looking dog. Took him over, left him there, got a call in the afternoon, come pick him up. And I go, okay. My plan, of course, this is before social media. And I, for sure, he's a neighbor's dog. And they probably haven't got this fixed because they either didn't wanna invest in it or they didn't know it could be fixed. I don't know. So I picked him up and he gives me a little bottle with, with antibiotic drops. And he goes, you gotta put this in his eye for 8 days. And I go, wait, no, no, no, no, no. This isn't my dog. I don't even know whose dog it is. I'm not gonna have him for 8 days. And he goes, oh no, you have to. Mm-hmm. And if you, or give it to, when you find his family, give them these drops cuz he's gonna need them. Or else it's gonna get infected and it's gonna be a worse problem. And I thought, oh my God. So I brought him. Jesus. Yes. And I go, okay. So I said, I put him in the front garden because it had bars. All homes in Costa Rica look like bird cages because we're all covered in bars. So I thought he can't get out, but he's visible from the street. So I'm sure they're gonna be looking for him. They're gonna come over, they're gonna see him, and then they just knock on the door and Oh, hand him over with the little drops. The 8 days went by, the treatment was done and nobody had come looking. And I'd posted pictures of him and nobody came looking. So I went door to door.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 11:19
Wow.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 11:19
Knocking on everybody's door. No, never seen him. No, don't have, I don't know who it is. No, never seen this dog. And I thought, oh no. I didn't know at the time, I didn't think people were capable of abandoning an animal. So I had scrawny little dogs who you thought, okay, those are, these are, these are mutts, right? These are, these are street dogs, right? And then pretty dogs, uh, they have a, they have somebody who looks after them. There was no in-between for me, not yet. And then I noticed with Oslo, and I thought, oh, crap, maybe, you know, maybe people do abandon, maybe dogs, maybe beauty isn't a guarantee. And so I kept Doso, and I didn't— he wasn't the kind of dog that even appealed to me. He was stubborn. He— a combination, we later found out he was some other mix, but it was definitely husky and definitely Shar-Pei. So he was stubborn on all angles. Mm-hmm. Um, a free spirit. And, um, I thought, this isn't the dog I'd keep. No, I wouldn't. I like old or frail dogs. And I had already rescued a very, very old— turned out it was probably a Schnauzer. He was very mad. He didn't look like one, but he was super old. And, and I had taken Diego, and I— that's the dog that I had sort of gravitated to. Also, And I thought, what happens with Oso? If nobody takes him off my hands, what am I gonna do with him? I don't wanna keep him. I'm not gonna put him on the street. I had looked at shelters and we, there were about 2 shelters, official shelters in Costa Rica. One, a super high-kill shelter that doesn't say it's a kill shelter, but I found out because I made friends with a person who works there and she, she used to call me up and say, please help me with this dog. If I, I'm gonna, I'm going, my, my, my, my day off is tomorrow and I know they're going to put her down and she's very adoptable. Please help me. So I'd help her with dogs from time to time. And I thought, that's not what I want. The other shelter was a very nice shelter up in the mountains too. Not a kill shelter, but still, I mean, the dogs there are going to live in a kennel for the rest of their days as long. And I thought also, if Oslo isn't adopted and he's not very adoptable. If he doesn't get adopted from my home, he's not gonna get adopted from a cage. And, um, and all of a sudden I was faced with a reality that I was super, super uncomfortable with. And I was part of the problem if I didn't do anything about it. Mm-hmm. If I just sort of fell in step, I was gonna be part of the problem. And I thought, no, I mean, dog, a dog that comes to me is going to leave when he finds a home. And if not, I'm gonna have to suck it up and keep him because I'm not gonna go through the normal routes. And that was fine.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 14:25
Very compassionate.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 14:26
1, 2, 3.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 14:27
Very compassionate of you.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 14:29
Well, I don't know, but it was kind of— it just didn't sit right anymore. I couldn't. I couldn't. So 3, 4 dogs, 5 dogs. Sometimes somebody would adopt one. It was a very— it's changed a lot, but back then it was more than 20 years ago. People weren't really adopting dogs. You buy dogs, but you don't adopt dogs. Foreigners, the expats, you knew the person was an expat, not necessarily because they look any different from Costa Ricans, because Costa Ricans, there's a lot of light-skinned Costa Ricans that you'd think are Americans or North Americans or Europeans. But this person would be walking with a little mutt on a beautiful leash with a nice scarf on the mutt, proud of the dog they had on the other side of the leash. That was not Costa Rican. There you knew there was an aged culture that already understood the value of a dog, and we were still way behind, so it was hard to get them adopted. But, um, so the numbers at home grew and grew and grew, and they were coming in faster than they were leaving.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 15:46
This is into your home, just your home before you opened the sanctuary?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 15:52
Yeah, I was very lucky because our home was in front of a little mall. Right across the street from a little mall. On my right, we had a vacant lot. On my left, we had a delicious little French café. The owners loved animals. They, and they did not mind the fact that we had animals. And we had sort of little by little, Alberto had sort of accommodated the areas for the dogs. So we had not that much space. We had enough backyard. Our, our house was very small. It was like a little loft and the rest was a little bit of a backyard, but he had built different levels on it so that the dogs could have different areas. And it was a good setup. We had over 100 dogs.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 16:44
Wow.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 16:44
And everything was fine and we had got the permits and everything and it was fine. And then somebody decided to build a house right behind ours. Mm-hmm. And Álvaro said, that's gonna be the end of this.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 16:56
Mm-hmm.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 16:56
Because now we do have neighbors and the dogs were quiet most of the time, but when somebody came in or left, they would bark.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 17:03
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 17:03
And it did become a problem.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 17:05
Yeah, I can imagine. And Álvaro is your, your husband?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 17:10
Álvaro is my husband. Yeah. Álvaro is my husband.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 17:13
And to, together you, you acquired, uh, acreage, a farm, farm in the mountains.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 17:20
It was actually, this was my grandfather's farm and my father had worked on it. Well, my grandfather passed and my dad had done everything he could to sort of bring it out of the red. I think being a farmer is really one of the hardest jobs. I mean, you do everything right, but it doesn't rain on time, or you do everything right and it rained too early and then all the flowers are damaged. It's not in your hands and it's a lot of work. And I got to hate that. And I thought, you gotta be crazy to want a farm. And when my mom passed away and my dad no longer could handle the farm, it ended up in my, eventually ended up in my hands. And I thought, ooh, no, agriculture is not for me. So it sat there for ages, ages. I'd rent out little pieces for people who wanted, Somebody wanted to plant tomatoes here. There's a little piece rented. Then somebody wanted to keep his horses there, rented for such and such. I didn't wanna have anything to do with it, but that's Alvaro's idea. He said, you know what? We're gonna have to send them up to the farm. Yeah. Or not help any other dogs anymore. Stop this or send them up to the farm because we're not gonna be able to do it anymore.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 18:35
This part of your life is quite extraordinary because most people who acquire land, a property, would use it as, as a farm for income, or they would use it as a hobby or, or to escape, to escape from life into their own little world. But you and Alvaro selflessly converted it to a sanctuary for homeless dogs. I think that's absolutely remarkable.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 18:59
I think the land must be happy, and I think my grandfather up there must be happy because he loved dogs. I can't imagine a better use for that land than what it's getting right now. And yes, it's been super complicated. And, um, yes, even knowing what I know today, I don't think I'd do anything different. Maybe I'd organize better at the beginning, but I wouldn't change a thing.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 19:21
Good. Well, I'll ask you about the challenges and, and some of your successes a little bit later, but firstly, can you tell us about the name? Such an interesting name for sanctuary.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 19:32
Well, Saguate, we don't have a lot of native tribes in Costa Rica. There was very— it wasn't a very heavily sort of inhabited area. There were some. We have Cavecars and Bribris and some, but not a lot of them. And they're all way in there in the mountains. So Saguate is from, I think it's a Cavecar or one of their languages. And, um, it means mange. It's, it's actually saguatl, but it means mange. So very early on, I don't know how long it's existed, saguate is, it comes from that. And it mean, if, if it means mange, it means a mangy dog. And that's what people call strays here, saguates. And it was a pretty sort of negative term. Mm-hmm. And I don't understand why. I mean, the more you think about it, the easier it is to understand that a stray is not less in any way than a purebred dog. In fact, it's a champion. So to me, when we were thinking of a place or the name of a place, I thought it has to be something that we can all be proud of, and we should be proud of our saguates. We should be. They are very Costa Rican. They are made here completely. They are unique.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 21:10
They are survivors.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 21:12
They're survivors. They come from a line of survivors. Mm-hmm. They're smart. They have none of the inbred problems, why should we not be proud of a saguate as a national symbol, right? We're proud of toucans and we're proud of sloths. Why not saguates? And so I said, we'll call it Territorio Saguate. And a lot of people say, ooh, don't call it that. I go, no, it's your problem in the interpretation, not the term itself. You are the one who's giving it something negative. This is It's great. A saguate is a wonderful, a wonderful creature. And if you can't see it, it's your problem. So I'm going to call it Territorio Saguates. And that's it. I didn't think how hard it was to pronounce in any other language other than ours, but at least that's what it means. It's very hard to say. It's a mouthful, but that's what it means. It's a land of the strays.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 22:19
Yeah. And so, yeah, the English interpretation, Land of the Strays or the Muds, right? Love it. So it's 355 acres, acres of a free-range sanctuary. So the dogs aren't, unlike many other sanctuaries or home places of, for homeless stray dogs who are caged, yours are free-range.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 22:41
How does that work?
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 22:42
How does that, on a practical level, how does it work And you take, so you have 2,000 dogs there currently?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 22:49
Around there. Yeah.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 22:50
Amazing.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 22:50
We're getting there.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 22:51
And you take them for walks and it's free range. How does it work in terms of behavioral management?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 22:58
It's interesting, but a lot of what people expect behavior-wise doesn't happen. I don't know if it's the numbers. I can tell you one thing. When we first moved the first group up there, it was about 100 and some odd dogs. And I didn't know if it was gonna work or not, but I knew that at home these dogs all got along perfectly. Oh yeah, sometimes they get into tiffs, but all you had to do was scold them and they'd stop. So I had at least the experience of 100 and some odd dogs that had always been free range, 'cause at my place it wasn't like they were in cages. They were They owned all of the, of, of the backyard, and they could walk into my house as, as freely as, as they wanted. So nothing was off limits to them. And when we moved them up to the farm, I didn't expect anything different than what I had seen at home. And it didn't make sense when, because I, before we did this, I kept asking everyone, why doesn't, why can't you have dogs free range on a farm. Oh, no. Dogs could— no, no, no, no, no. Each other. And they'll go back to the pack mentality, and they will become a problem, and they'll attack everything that's in the area. And I thought, wow, that's so different to what I've seen at home. Why, I wonder. And when I moved the dogs up, obviously, I wasn't gonna let them be there alone. So we had somebody— we had a lady who was just as nuts as we were, and she had her own about 12 dogs and she had no place to live. And we put her there and we said, listen, you'll have a home and you'll take care of our dogs and your dogs can be, can come around. And it was the same. And we kept them in an old barn that was not being used. And, um, we had sort of accommodated the place. And then one day I came up to visit on the weekends, cuz I've always had a job during the week and I, I'd come up in the weekends to visit. And her son was there, Stephen. And he said, let's go for a walk. And I go, what do you mean a walk? And he goes, yeah, let's go for a walk up to the river. And I go, what, with the dogs? And he goes, yeah. And I go, no, they'll get lost. We'll lose the dogs. And he goes, no, no, no, no. I do it all the time. And I go, what? And he goes, no, they just they, they follow me and they, look, come along. And I was terrified. Terrified. And he started walking and I was walking behind him and I was just, I was just holding on because I thought, I'm just gonna see a, I, I'm sure I'm gonna see a dog just run off and get lost. Mm-hmm. In the woods. And then we walked through a little river. We went up and it was, it was December or January. And at that time, most of, at least in the countryside, we get a, a, a flower that's called Santa Lucia. And it's, it's a little weed, but it, it has little purple flowers. Mm-hmm. And so the whole sort of the whole hill was covered in purple flowers and you turn a bend and then you'd see the hill come up and seeing there were about 200 dogs running up that hill, so happy in the middle of the— oh, I just burst into tears. And in fact, yes, I mean, they went wherever we went, and when we stopped, they'd stop, and then they'd play around and everything. But the moment they saw that the pack was moving, they'd move with it. And nothing's changed. It's just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. Still, I mean, yeah, the farm is 300-odd hectares, acres, but the dogs hang around wherever the guys live and that's where they stay. And they will move when we move and when we go off for a walk. And sometimes not all of them wanna come. I mean, Saturdays we get a lot of dogs walking. Sundays it's like, oh, I went yesterday, I'm staying here.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 27:15
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 27:16
But all they wanna do is be with people. So these are dogs that are nothing more than a house dog without a house.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 27:25
Are there alpha leaders in the pack?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 27:29
First, they're all spayed and neutered, so that sort of dominance is not prevalent. Yeah, it calms them down a lot. But I'd say they have arguments. And we let them, I mean, it's normal for them to communicate. And sometimes communication means get out of my face, growl and bark or snap at another dog. That's healthy. We'll let that go.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 27:55
Communication.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 27:57
Yeah. Sometimes we hear it escalate and it changes a bit. By now we know and it's sort of, mm, we better break it up. So what we do is we have the guys, the caretakers walk in different directions and the dogs will follow them. It's funny, but the dogs choose a person. They, the caretakers take care of the dogs in general as a, as a pack. It's not like they have certain dogs assigned to them. However, the dogs gravitate towards one or the other. And so when this person moves, the dogs with him will move.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 28:32
Mm-hmm.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 28:32
And if there's a problem, if there's a serious problem, like a, a fight, Usually I'll go, or somebody with less dogs will go sort of tend to the real 2 or 3 individuals that are having a fight, and we have to distract the other ones so that they don't become part of a big mass of dogs that are fighting because they all get sort of all excited. But when you distract them, it's just gone. And then if we still, if If having the dogs move and disperse doesn't break up the fight, then we get involved and we'll separate the dogs. But usually yelling and distracting will do the trick. I talked to a friend of mine who's a behaviorist, and he came up and we were talking about a project. He has a project to create or to train dogs. He trains therapy dogs, and he wants to do a project with some of our dogs for deaf people, and they're called signal dogs. And I didn't know it existed. And he goes, this is a dog. All it needs to have, all the only quality it needs to have is that it's perky and that it's alert. So we don't need a dog with a special breed sort of strength like Labs to go fetch things. No. It can be, it can be one of your, of, of those saguates, and all we have to do is train them for that. So that's why he was at the farm. He knows so much. And I go, okay, Anthony, tell me, tell me, why do people think that this doesn't work? Why do I still, 20 years later, still get comments? Oh no, the dogs, that's not possible. The dogs kill each other. The dogs eat each other. Why? And he goes, you know, and I think this is a great explanation. Everything we know, we know from books, from studies. And up to now, no one has done what you did. So we can't— from what I know, this shouldn't exist. This shouldn't be possible. This should not work. And I'm here and I'm seeing it. I see it work. Yeah. And I think the dogs know how to behave. It's humans who interfere with the proper communication. When we feed them, for example, they all eat at the same time, but we have to, we, we feed them in troughs.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 31:03
Mm-hmm.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 31:04
And we have to do 4 or 5 feedings. And by feedings, I mean we refill the troughs. And normally the strongest, bossiest ones are the first ones to come. And so when they're almost done, we'll keep filling and filling and filling. We go through about 30 bags, 30 bags, 30 kilo bags. Kilos, what are they? 66 pounds, I think, or something like that. Yes. 30 of those a day. And we could probably use much less, but we have to make sure there's enough left over so that even the shyest, slowest, more most, I don't know, dispersed dog. Yeah. Will, will have food.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 31:46
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 31:47
And will feel comfortable coming up to the troughs. So all you have to do is patrol them and remind the ones that are growling and correct them, and that's it.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 31:55
Mm-hmm.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 31:56
And then they'll go and have a nap. And the only problems we get is when, like, I don't know, one found a bone or something and the other one wants it. It's, it's possession.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 32:06
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 32:06
That's it. Mm-hmm. Other than that, nobody owns anything there. Nobody's king of any mountain. We all, we all have enough food. We all have enough mountains. We all have enough sticks to play with. We all have enough rivers to get into.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 32:21
It's lots of stimulation for them.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 32:23
Yes, exactly.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 32:25
Lots of opportunities for, for fun.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 32:27
Exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 32:28
It's wonderful. And then is the ultimate goal to rehome the dogs?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 32:33
Oh yes. Our sole purpose is to find homes for all of them. But we know deep down inside, we know that a lot of the dogs that are there will never find the home. And that's fine because that's what I always wanted to be. I wanted to be that home, that last place a dog could go. Yes. When everything else was lost.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 32:55
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 32:56
There's always—
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 32:57
they can be safe.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 32:58
Yes. And let them be safe, have food.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 33:01
And happy. Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 33:03
Yeah. Have a name, know that you're okay, you're accepted.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 33:07
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 33:08
We try to take on the worst cases because as it is, we have very, very little. I mean, we've taken so many dogs in, but we know there's a lot of dogs out there that are very adoptable. Very adoptable. There's a lot of people trying to help dogs here. A lot of independent rescue groups or organizations, and a lot of them are women who rent— they're head of family, maybe they're single moms, and they already rent a place and they shouldn't have a dog, but they smuggle a dog in because they want to help it. That person needs to find a home immediately for that dog.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 33:44
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 33:44
Because that person can't keep it for long. I prefer to even post their dogs so that they find homes. Mine can be there as long as they want. Also, dogs that are in terrible condition, maybe they've been hit by a car, they need an amputation. That's expensive. And a lot of the dogs that most need the help are not getting it because of people who want to help don't always have the means. So it's not fair for us to take in one of these easily adoptable dogs when somebody else could do that.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 34:20
Yeah, and others are more desperate. Do you have any idea of the, the numbers of homeless dogs in Costa Rica?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 34:29
I've heard— I don't know how reliable this, the, the data is because I don't see who would be responsible enough to keep track. And I, and And it's very sad, but the government here does not do anything for these animals and is not organized at all. The whole animal welfare, it's called SENASA. They are— that's a government branch that looks after animals. For the longest time, all it was was consumption, right? So it makes sure that the meat that's getting to the markets is safe, right? That's all they cared about.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 35:10
Yeah, animals as food.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 35:12
About as food.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 35:13
Yeah, not animal welfare.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 35:15
No. So welfare started about, say, 25 years ago. Very recently, they assigned these same— this same SENASA, this same government branch, all of a sudden they had to take care of animal welfare. Nobody— first, nobody wanted to do it. It's easier to just go, um, slaughterhouse to slaughterhouse, or farm to farm and just say, hey, your old friend. I'm here to see, is everything still okay? Fine. Let's have a cup of coffee. Let's sit down, have something to eat. Maybe if it's not perfect, you can slip me some money. Perfect. That's— they had it made. Yeah. They had it made. Now they had to care about people who weren't keeping their dogs or well, or people or dog fighting rings. Oh, no. They don't wanna get mixed up in that.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 36:02
Oh, nice.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 36:02
So to, to give you an idea of what what the system is in Costa Rica. There is, for the entire country, there is one head of animal welfare. One. And SENASA, no, SENASA can't, doesn't, doesn't take the dogs from the people because they don't have a place to keep them. There isn't a municipal pound. And this place does it. There are, it does have places in the entire country. SINASA can keep 10 dogs. That's 10 spaces for 10 dogs in all of Costa Rica. So of course, when the 10 places are full, where are they gonna keep the other dogs that they have? They have to care for more dogs. They have to take other dogs. They ask for help from other rescue organizations, or they take them to other shelters, or they— so that's incredible.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 36:54
They are—
Lya Battle (Guest) · 36:54
it is.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 36:56
The government has a facility that that homes 10 stray dogs for the whole country. And that's it.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 37:05
For the whole country. And that's it. And that's it. So you, so if, if, if I'm supposed to trust that they are the ones who know, I don't see how they, I don't see the interest in keeping track of the animals. I don't see them. They don't, they don't collect them. They don't collect animals to spay, neuter, and then release. They don't. So how do they know how many animals? So if I've heard 2 million dogs on the street, to me, that could be more, that could be much less. But I can't trust anything that comes from an official body because I know they don't care. I know the ones that do care can't care because the system is not designed for them to care. So, yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I don't know.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 37:55
So Leah, it sounds like the government doesn't have its own resources to help with the welfare of stray homeless dogs, but are they supportive of your organization?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 38:05
No, they hate our guts because we highlight the problem, because we make it very obvious. And although to me the fact that we get people coming in and walking with the dogs and hopefully adopting, because it's very easy to fall in love with a dog after 20 minutes. I bet. After a walk, it's so easy. It's not only that, this is educational. This is one way to teach people, stop ostracizing these poor dogs. Look how beautiful they are. Look how smart they are. Look how friendly they are. Get the idea of a sick garbage-eating dog out of your mind. A stray is not that, and it never was. If there is a dog in that condition, that's not the condition that that dog should be in. This— Exactly. These are strays. This is what you can aim for. If you rescue a dog from a garbage pile, this is what it can become. So they're just waiting for a chance. And people need to learn that. And people need to appreciate that either to get them to be allies and to be adopters, or at least to be defenders of these animals.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 39:23
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 39:24
Because if you stop seeing them as a part of the background, as a smelly part of the background, as an irritating part of the background, then you've got somebody who cares about this animal enough to bring pressure onto the government. The government does not like us. From day one, they said, oh, no, no, no, it's okay. You can have a shelter. Of course. Of course. Have everybody do the job for you, right?
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 39:46
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 39:47
No, you can have a shelter, but they have to be caged. And I go, no, they don't. No, yes, they do. Where does it say that a shelter has to have that? Well, that's the way you run a shelter. And I go, mm. But that's the problem. I don't like the way shelters are run. And I am going to sacrifice my peace, my tranquility, and my future to bring something different. I'm not going to do what you want me to do. I'm going to do something different. And if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it my way. And the law, the only stipulation by law is how much space you have. So I think it's like 2 meters, 2 square meters per dog. I think that's as many— you can have as many dogs as the space you have. And so space-wise, I'm okay. And so they really didn't have a leg to stand on, but they didn't want us existing. If this can't work, this is not going to work. It's not going to work. It's not going to work. Well, it's been working for all these years.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 40:53
How many years now? Is it 18? 18 years?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 40:55
About 18 years right now. Yeah. And 18, yeah, about 18 up at the farm, 20-some-odd since I started at home. And I said, look, other people in other countries are doing the same thing and they're having, they're, they're, they're succeeding. So it may not be for everyone, but it is an option. And people have to know that it is an option.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 41:21
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 41:22
And, um, so since they can't legally shut us down, they put, They bring every complication up to us in order to sort of make us go away. And the last time they came up and they said, listen, you know, we, we, I mean, we, a problem we have with you is that there isn't a model for what you do. So we have nowhere, no way to sort of put you into a, a cubbyhole, right? Yeah. But we found one based on, cuz you're not a shelter. He, they refused to see us as a shelter because the dogs are based on the acti— Exactly. Based on the amount of animals, um, that you have and, and on the, on the, on the number of visitors that come and the activities that go on, and we, we, we have decided you fall into the category of amusement park. What? But I don't even charge for people to come in. This is free. But still, it's an amusement park. Since you are an amusement park, these are certain, certain rules you have to stick to. Exactly. Rules and things we expect from you. And that's why we've been working. What they gave us was about 16 pages full of stuff. It was enough. I'm sure their goal was just for us to go, oh no, I can't do this. And it's too hard. I'm going to give up. But if, if, if, if this universe provided me with something, it was with stubbornness.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 42:49
Good.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 42:50
And so, um, so I just said, well, that's— is this what you want? This is what you'll get eventually. So we've been working on it for ages, and then COVID and the shutdown put us back a whole lot of time, and it's been, it's been super complicated because we've had to continue doing what we do with less donations, with less visits, with less adoptions. But we are still picking up dogs, getting them surgeries, spaying and neutering them, homing them, feeding them, vaccinating them, caring for them.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 43:31
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 43:32
Without the structure that used to create sort of not, well, not the resources cuz it was never sort of, ooh, we have everything. But it was, easier. It was easier. Um, it's been very, very difficult.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 43:47
Were you— was there a time where you, where you're ever tempted to close down, where you thought, this is overwhelmingly difficult? And were you tempted?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 43:58
No. There's been times when I've felt this is overwhelmingly difficult, I'm gonna go set off a bomb in that place. Um, but not give up on the dogs.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 44:09
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 44:09
No.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 44:10
And what keeps you going? What drives you?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 44:12
It's them. It's knowing that this is all they have. They can't lose this. Yeah. If they don't have this, what do they have?
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 44:21
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 44:21
It's like poor animals. They don't deserve this.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 44:24
Absolutely. And Leah, what would happen to— just if the— you're in the circumstance of the government closing you down, they'd have to put them down. What would happen to the what would happen to the dogs? What would be— what would the dogs be facing?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 44:39
They would have to be put down. The government would have to have the guts to come and put down 2,000 dogs that are perfectly okay, that are happy in a farm, um, because of their pettiness. Yeah. And, um, and I don't see them doing that. No, not with a— with a boatload of backlash.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 45:01
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 45:01
Um, And it'd be very hard to justify that. I mean, these are dogs that have been through so much. Let them have a life.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 45:10
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 45:10
Let them be happy.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 45:12
Yes. And your model is working.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 45:15
It is working.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 45:16
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 45:16
You come to the farm, of course. Yeah. There are things I've gotta say. Sure. If they were in cages, we'd get their skin under control so much faster, or I don't know. Small stuff. It's stupid stuff. But I think the dog is happier scratching under a tree than scratching with treatment in a cage. So yes, there are things that would be easier for the human beings to achieve, goals that would happen faster for the humans, but at the price of a dog. If when I said I wouldn't change anything. Yeah. Even knowing how hard it's been, even knowing everything we've had to give up in the process, I wouldn't change a thing. Sometimes I'm tempted to say I'd get organized before. I'd set everything up before, but you know what? If I had done that, if I had waited till the time was right, if I had waited till everything was in place, I don't know how many dogs would've died on the street waiting for someone to give them a chance. So, okay, I, it, I, it's been twice as difficult because we've had to sort of grow and organize what, on top of dogs while we already had dogs. Well, if, if people ask me, I'd say, if you have a chance, do it the other way. If you have a chance, don't make them, don't get the number as big as we have. But even that I wouldn't, I wouldn't change because it would mean a whole lot of dogs wouldn't have come to us because we wouldn't have been ready for them. And then what would've been of those dogs? How many wonderful dogs, how many wonderful adoptions wouldn't have happened? If, if we'd waited till it was comfortable for us. Now, to me, anything that's uncomfortable to the human, suck it up because this isn't designed for the humans. It's designed for the dogs.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 47:30
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 47:31
So comes with the territory.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 47:34
Yes. So Leah, I understand you have, you open the sanctuary to people who can walk with the dogs. What are some of the are the reactions that you've observed with people walking with 2,000 dogs through the mountains and across rivers? It must be amazing.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 47:51
They're— most of the people are blown away. I see a lot of people crying.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 47:56
Um, tell us about that. Why, why do you think they're crying?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 48:01
They're overwhelmed with emotion. Some people, it's just emotion. Most of the time it's like, imagine, um, A lot of people may also think, I mean, look at how many dogs don't have a home. And that's sort of the second shoe that falls, right? It's like, oh my God. And I think you walk away knowing that the system's broken. Yeah. The system is broken. And it's a lot to take in. A lot to take in. For me, it's normal now, but I've, I've seen people overwhelmed and ecstatic. People who go up there, people who like dogs. If you don't like dogs, this is not the place to come. But most of the people who come to us come because they love dogs. So being exposed to all these dogs, watching these dogs being dogs. And watching such a big number of dogs getting along. It's not something you see all the time because at home, for some reason, they're not like that. I, I, I, I don't, if I had a penny for every person who said, oh, I have only 3 dogs and I can't keep them together most of the time, I would probably be, have enough money to run this without a problem. But it's different. It's, it's so different when you see them in these numbers and they're running together and they're playing together and they're, and they come up to you and they're so friendly. These dogs, I get it. Normally you walk into a shelter and you have a stressed out dog that's either depressed in a corner of a cage or barking at everybody because he's crazy. And that's kind of hard to approach. You're either gonna approach a very depressed dog or a very scared dog or a very reactive dog. Here, the dogs are approaching you. They're jumping up on you. They're sticking to you. And it's, it's such an honor. It's such a beautiful sort of—
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 50:07
it sounds like they're having a good life instead of waiting and hoping for a good life. You're giving them a good life. They're experiencing that now. How wonderful. Leah, are there any other— because it is a success story— are there any other models of sanctuaries, dog sanctuaries around the world who have who have copied your model?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 50:29
Yeah, well, I know personally, I know of, um, of one in Jamaica. Um, it's called, it's called Montego Bay Animal Haven. And she, it's a Tammy, Tammy Brown. She was about to give up on her. I mean, it's tough in Jamaica and it's, and, and there's a lot of cruelty there and it's hard for her.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 50:57
Right.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 50:57
And, um, and she was about to give up on, I don't know how many dogs she had, about 100 or so. And her boyfriend had seen, um, videos and he contacted me and said, please, I need to bring her over and I need her to sit down and talk to you. And after we sat down for a while, we realized we're both facing the same kind of BS from the government. We're both We're both sort of waddling in, in the same kind of, ah, I hate humans. I love humans. We're both going through the same things. And all I said was, look, Tammy, try doing this. She does have a, a little bit of land. And I go, take them on walks. Have them, let them, let them experience this. And she did. She went back. She changed the whole model. She— it was working. Yeah. And, and, um, I think, I hope things have been a little bit easier for her since. And, um, and then there's some people in— is it Argentina or is it some— somewhere in South America? So there's other people have taken it up. I— again, it's easier if you don't go as big as we do. Mm-hmm.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 52:18
Um, wonderful. And yeah, Leah, you mentioned before that you also have a full-time job outside the, the sanctuary to, to earn income to, to support the sanctuary. How, what other ways do you, do you raise funds to support the sanctuary? It must, 'cause it must cost a lot, like feeding and, and looking after the health of 2,000 dogs.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 52:44
It's a very, very expensive operation. I'd say we never have enough to cover everything, but we have enough to sort of keep everything moving and clearing debts as we go. We sell t-shirts online on our website. We have done— my husband—
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 53:09
save donations.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 53:10
Receive donations. Well, yeah, we receive donations. Everything that I don't use up in my tiny little home and my very small— I don't eat a lot, so, and I'm not a fancy person. So whatever is left over from when I've covered my expenses here goes to the dogs. Álvaro, my husband, He's been trying to get this. It's been working, but I don't know if it's enough. He buys food, dog food from the big companies, hopefully at a better price than public, than the retail. But we don't get an excellent price because that excellent price goes to the vets. So what we have is a little bit of a difference between the retail sale and the wholesale. But that—
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 54:14
How can our audience best support you and your organization, the Land of the Strays?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 54:20
Donations are always very welcome, and even a dollar. Some people think, oh, I've got to donate $30 to make a difference. No. If 30 people donate $1, We're doing something, right? So donations always help. Yeah. You got to know, I mean, it goes straight to the dogs because both my husband and I have our own jobs. We don't even get a salary from the foundation. If you want to buy merch on our— they'll ship it. It's from the States. It's a really nice place. It's called Bonfire, and they put out nice stuff. We give them the models, they put it in their online store, and they ship it over. So donations. And if you want to go on our website, you can see the merch and basically spreading the word. Spread the word.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 55:21
And the website, we can be found on Land of the Strays.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 55:29
Territorios Aguates.com, .org, .org, Territorios Aguates.org, and I guess LandoftheStrays.org will take you there too. And if you want to follow us on Facebook and on Instagram, same, Territorios Aguates, and I think Land of the Strays will take you there too. We're trying to make it a little bit easier on, on the non-Spanish-speaking community.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 55:57
Leo, um, how do you take care of your own mental health and well-being? Because you must be under a lot of pressure with responsibility of 2,000 dogs. It's, it's something that you obviously don't take lightly.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 56:11
It's, it's, it's strange. First I think one of my superpowers has always been ADHD. Mm-hmm. And with that, it's always been easy to sort of be sort of a little bit present in every place. So you're never sort of focused on one thing. And then the way we grew up in my family, I don't know, maybe this was it, but He, nothing was a big deal.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 56:46
Mm-hmm.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 56:47
I mean, to get off school, you would necess— really, it would have to be coughing up a lung. Nothing was a big deal. It, I, we were never the kind of kids that were always in hospital. It was like, okay, you scraped your knee, come, I'll, I'll fix it. What, you, you have a really high fever? Look, I know what to give you. Nothing was a big deal. So I grew up in this environment of don't sweat the small stuff. And it's all small stuff. Yes, I guess it's like, what is crying about it going to help? It's not going to. What is feeling sorry for myself going to help? It's not. Put this feeling into action, either despising the people who are making life complicated for you and doing something about it, or focusing on what makes you happy, which is dogs. My life is very simple. Dogs, animals, anything I can do that'll help the environment. To me, that's what we're here for. We're here on this planet to be happy. So fix whatever is not making you— fix whatever's got you sad. And make others happy. And that includes animals and creatures and plants and trees and everything that has the same right to a life on this planet as we do. So thank you. I don't know. It's very hard for me to be—
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 58:25
You sound like a very purpose-driven, and your purpose helps. To keep you focused and to prioritize and to take care of yourself because you know that what you're doing is a high cause.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 58:42
It's nice to know, and I don't know when, a long time ago, I sort of noticed, you know what, I could die tomorrow and I've already done what I was supposed to do. It's a very liberating feeling. I've been through, and that this also helps a lot. I've been through a couple of near-death experiences and that puts everything in perspective. That puts absolutely everything into perspective. That, that's when you know this is not important. This is gonna blow over tomorrow. Mm-hmm. The big picture is this.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 59:16
Mm-hmm.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 59:16
This is what I have to focus on. Mm-hmm. And, um, and I think that's also helped a lot. I don't know if I'm organized. I don't know if I'm driven. I just know that once I start doing something, right?
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 59:29
Yeah.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 59:29
If it's what I love, I will be doing it no matter what. No matter who tries to stop me.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 59:37
Yeah. And I think your, your near-death experiences have really taught you that life is precious. Use it, use it wisely while you're still alive.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 59:46
Exactly. Exactly. It's very precious. It's very short. Yeah. And sometimes we put a lot of time into people or things that are not important, and that time will never come back to you. So do what makes you happy, period. Not what makes you money, not what gives you status. Do what makes you happy. Yeah.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 1:00:11
Thank you. And Leo, one more question. What is your final message that you would like the audience to take away with them about homeless dogs?
Lya Battle (Guest) · 1:00:21
Homeless dogs?
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 1:00:24
Oh, sorry, Leah, before you answer, I know you have, you have one of your little friends with you, Simon. Simon.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 1:00:31
Simon.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 1:00:31
While you answer that final question, couldn't Simon join us? This little Simon.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 1:00:40
This is Simon. He's about 900 years old. But he's happy and he, he's just had a big, big dinner, so he's falling asleep. Right.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 1:00:49
Um, sorry, the question again was about, yeah, last final message that you'd like to leave with the audience about homeless or stray dogs.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 1:00:58
I'd say dogs, we made dogs our responsibility. Dogs were fine without us. Dogs were wolves without us. And we decided that they were practical, that they could help us, that if we gave them scraps and kept them close to our caves, they'd protect us. That if we were kind to them and they were kind to us, maybe they'd help us hunt. And they became useful. And then they cared for our pe— they, they, they guarded our homes. They became companions and And we gained allies and they lost liberties and they lost independence and they gave it all for us. And then we turned our back on them and we created all these different breeds and we designed the dogs to look the way we want them or to do the things we need them to do. And we bred them with short little legs so that they could get into rat holes and they could, they could catch rats. And we did all this. Yeah. All the dogs that are out here on the street in every single country are there because of us. Yes. Because it's also on our, on our hands to spay and neuter them. But if we don't, we just let them become a problem. Somebody else's problem. It's not somebody else's problem. Mm-hmm. It's our problem. Yeah. And we are the only ones who have tools and the empathy to fix a problem, to give them the life that they deserve. Dogs should not be homeless. We make them homeless. It's about time we put the emphasis where it is, that if the dog is on the street and it has no home, it's not the dog's fault. It's a human being behind that sad story for failing them. So do whatever you can to help. If it's just leave a bit of water outside of your house for a dog, do it. If it's just be kind to it, do it. If you can adopt one, do it.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 1:03:07
Yes.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 1:03:07
If you can spay and neuter a stray, do it. But make sure that whatever time you have on this planet, you dedicate a little bit of it to making their life a bit better.
Natalie Stockdale (Host) · 1:03:21
Wonderful. Leah, Leah, thank you so much for your time. I know you're very busy looking after all your full-time job as well as looking after 2,000 dogs, and I think you're absolutely wonderful. You've, you recognized a problem, and instead of just feeling sad about it, you've actually worked every day towards solving that problem and making a difference to the lives of tens of thousands of dogs. So, um, I just absolutely love your work, and I hope that the audience will, will support you and your organization, Land of the Strays. Thank you very much.
Lya Battle (Guest) · 1:03:56
Thank you so— thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Nice to be here. Thank you. Animals and Us is a production of Kintsugi Heroes. Thank you to Xavier Rudd for his permission permission to use Follow the Sun as our theme music for this series. If you enjoyed this conversation, share the podcast with a friend and let us know by leaving a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to support Kintsugi Heroes and the stories we share, head to kintsugiheroes.com.au and follow the instructions to make a tax-deductible donation. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you next time. Brand new moon, brand new sun.
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