Can you ever own a dog?

Round here people have a very different attitude to domestic animals. Back home the idea that you own your dog is very clear, and ownership means you can control their movements and behaviour as you see fit, and even make them fetch your slippers. In Sri Lanka, however, dogs own themselves, and are free to roam around wherever they want and do any doggy thing that pops into their head.

This means there is a huge number of hounds here, most of whom live off left over lunch packets. Some seem to enjoy their free life, but to be honest you wouldn't want to get too close to most of them.

Here's a dog in the Galle Fort struggling with a typically bad case of mange, fleas or something else extremely itchy.















Cats are independent wherever they are, and this one was pottering round a metalworks in Tangalla, slinking between a welder and a furnace.