In a service station in Torreón there are not only cars. Sometimes they also come stray dogs, tired, hungry and looking for some water.
And it is precisely thinking of them that CargoGas, a company present in the area of Torreón, in the Mexican state of Coahuila, has begun to transform some of its service stations into service points for stray animals.
Since 2020 the company has installed feeders and water containers at some of its stations, making them available to dogs living on the street.
A simple gesture, but above all continuous.
Because the project did not stop at a bowl filled in front of a distributor.
CargoGas also gave life to the project 4 Patitas, dedicated to the recovery and protection of stray dogs. Helpful animals are welcomed and careful, with a path that includes veterinary care, vaccination, sterilization and, when possible, the search for a family through adoption.
This is the detail that changes the meaning of the initiative.
Giving water and food means responding to an immediate need. Creating a path that includes care, sterilization and adoption means trying to intervene on the problem over time.
Whoever crossed a stray dog knows that scene: an animal looking shelter from the heat, something to eat or just a place to stop without being pushed away.
In Torreón someone decided to transform that daily scene into a concrete responsibility.
The initiative also drew attention to social media, where images and stories of the project were shared by many users.
Not for a single day dedicated to animals, but for an initiative launched in 2020 and subsequently became a broader project of assistance to stray animals.
There are corporate initiatives that are remembered for a slogan.
Others remember for a bowl of water left at the disposal of a dog that, until then, had no place to go.