Our Lady of Strays

The Territorio de Zaguates is a home for abandoned and stray dogs on a farm in Costa Rica. Lya Battle keeps around 300 dogs, saved from the streets or euthanasia, on ten acres of her family farm because she loves them.

One could be forgiven for thinking that as a dog lover (or “dog slut,” as she laughingly describes herself), Lya Battle is out of control. But out of control is a matter of perspective. Especially considering how it was that Lya became renowned as the Mother Teresa of Mutts, the mistress of a place called Territorio de Zaguates (roughly translated as “kingdom of strays”), a situation that might never have happened the way it did if one day her father, who she adored, had not shot her mother, who she did not.

So in this article at Outside you get both the story of Battle's family and the story of Costa Rica's largest dog shelter. -