El perro poblador (The settler dog)

In response to the alarming statistics of 70% land dissertation and the annual abandonment of 168,000 dogs in Spain, “El perro poblador” (the dog settler in Spanish) envisions a transformative universe where both pressing issues intersect to create a mutually beneficial multispecies model. Through a documentary film, a recreational momentum, and an archetypal festivity publication, Ana Robles Pérez introduces the historic colonization village of Villalba de Calatrava, along with a family of four stray canines, as the pioneers of this practice starting on August 8th, 2023, with “The festivities of El Perro Poblador”. This celebratory occasion, which converges rigorous animal species translocation protocols with the reinterpretation of historical, traditional, and folkloric wisdom rooted in this affected rural community reimagines these canines as catalysts for revitalization. A new paradigm where these so-called “settler dogs” transcend their conventional roles as domestic companions to become pioneers in endangered ecosystems.