I am an artist and my work has focused for the past two years on Stray Dogs of Nicaragua. However, I use my paintings to bring attention to their plight and to raise money by using proceeds to help the dogs.
See;
www.petakaplan-sandzer.com to view the dog paintings.

I was physically sick after hearing what this Sub human did - not even animal do this to their weak - they kill them outright to save them the pain of suffering. History shows that humans who torture animals usually go the next step. Most serial killers who torture their victims have a history of animal sick cruelty - FACT. Is the country looking seriously at this man to make sure he does not have any children tied, starving and left to die in his basement ? If not, they should, as the chances are he will offend in this way.
I have had one win, a family member who had Honduras on her places to visit, has cancelled !! I hope this country has a famine and they learn what it is like to starve to death.

what if the energy spent on persecuting the artist could be spent trying to help stray dogs.

The case of Guillermo Vargas has enraged not only animal lovers, but human beings all over the world. The name of the work was "remember Natividad". Natividad was a friend of Mr. Vargas and a delincuent who entered a factory to steal and was killed by two rottweilers. Mr. Vargas has received no punishments for his actions and has declared that he is not sorry for his behaviour.

Peta, you've generally restored my faith in--well, things. I found the video devastating because the body language of the dog was just so universal. I could picture my own dog or any dog in that cruel circumstance. Your paintings capture that same eloquent body language in ways that are vibrant, beautiful, tender, and compassionate. You found the "dogness" in each dog and then showed it to us. I felt immeasurably better after looking at the images of your work. I wish you much success.

This so called exhibit, by an obviously talentless artist is abhorant. He would do better to drawn attention to the plight of starving animals by setting up a charity, instead of feeding his sick fantasies, as he is clearly ill or insane.

Well, Liz, I guess you and your family member showed those Hondurans! They've already had their "famine," and it was called Hurricane Mitch. Blaming this on the people of Honduras isn't going to get you very far, since any number of them are already struggling to feed their human family members. Their economy is one of the poorest in this hemisphere. When people suffer, their animals suffer right along with them. Dogs are everywhere on Earth, but they do not live as pets everywhere on Earth. They share the lot of the human beings they live with because that's what dogs do.

It seems to me that a sick, cruel individual is going to be sick and cruel in whatever society he is part of. He needs to be found and dealt with, and the relevant government officials need to be dealt with as well. There are plenty of decent people in Honduras who are revolted by this. "They" are really no different from "us" in that respect. I believe after watching the video that a humane organization there made it to bring this to everyone's attention.

Why not do something positive? You could earmark a donation through one of the international humane organizations or find a way to raise money. Bad-mouthing the Hondurans isn't going to do a thing for their animal population or their human population either.

I will start by saying what this artist (supposedly) did isn't right.

Unfortunately it takes something like this for Americans to understand the way other countries live.

I visited Grenada twice, and in that time I saw more starving dogs than I could count. I gave them my dinner, although I'm not sure it helped much. The people that owned them let them starve, it wasn't just dogs on the streets. By the same token, some of the people there are starving. They live in what we would use as a shed for lawn tools. No windows, no electricity. Americans have no idea how good they have it.

The exhibition took place, but I assure you that the dog did not die. Like thousands of straight dogs on the streets of Nicaragua, the dog was in a state of starvation when he was brought into the gallery. The dog was fed and he eventually ran away from the gallery, as stray dogs often do. However, the artist hasn't publicly recognized that to make a very important point.

While people send emails expressing outrage for the fate of this dog, few people expressed outrage when Natividad Canda, a Nicaraguan immigrant in Costa Rica, was savagely attacked and killed by two rottweilers in 2005. The video of that incident is truly horrific. The dog's tore Natividad Canda apart and his family is still fighting to receive compensation for the death of their son.

That is the reason why the dog's name is Natividad. The art piece is actually a protest piece that makes a statement about discrimination against Nicaraguans in Costa Rica, who are at times treated like "dogs."

More amazing still is the uproar that this exhibit provoked, since it shows that some people will come quickly to the aid of a dog, but in the face of human suffering, more often than not, decide to do nothing and remain quiet. It would be nice if people expressed as much outrage for human suffering as they do for animal suffering, even if doing so means taking a stand regarding more complicated issues.

That is very, very disturbing. At first I thought I though how terribly cruel to do something like that to a living creature. But I think it does bring up an important point and it makes people think... there are thousands/millions of dogs (AND NOT TO MENTION PEOPLE!!!) starving in the streets of 3rd world countries and no one cares about them. But as soon as you put one on display all the sudden everybody cares.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying...

I lived in brasil for 2 years and you wouldn't believe how the street children are look at like "vermon" ... pretty sad.

hey folks let's not forget there are also humans starving in nicaragua and kids losing limbs to landmines in the mountains as well

PS to hell with costa rica

Oh, great, Camilo! We have an expression here that I'll bet you also have--maybe you should ask your grandfather or some other wise person: Two wrongs don't make a right. What you're saying is, "I'm angry about some abuse, so I'm going to demonstrate that anger by abusing a dog. It's OK, because it proves some point or other." Follow this to its logical conclusion, please. How about, "I'm angry because you made fun of one of my religious leaders, so I'm going to blow up one of your schools." Even if the dog wasn't starved and deprived of water (well, actually it was deprived of water--you can tell by the video), this isn't such a wise way to garner sympathy for a cause. It might have been just a little bit smarter to get the word out about what actually happened to the person who was killed.

Wether or not the dog would have died or not. By capturing it and not allowing it to fend for itself simply took it's freedom away and hastened it's death. Yes, people may ignore the strays in the street which is an issue that needs addressing. But this is not the way to hightlight the problem, Besides, i doubt it was his original motive, it sounds like to me that it was a defence to his exibit once it was critizesed. He SHOULD NOT be allowed to do something of this nature ever again!

I honestly do not see how anyone could call this art.

No being should be exposed to this type of exposure except in an exhibition towards gaining relief for this animal. I propose this as a sick way of showing what is mistakenly called "art"

I think this is animal cruelty and the man should go to jail and they should starve him and see how he likes it!!!!!!

You just don’t get it do you? This isn’t about the DOG and it never was.

He chose a dog as his subject because he knew the uproar from the nations of the world where dogs are pets would draw attention to this exhibit. This was a clever move on his part, to choose such an emotional driver.

If we make this about the dog and flay the world with our moral outrage, then we don’t have to admit that we have kept walking when a homeless person approached us to ask for loose change, looking past them so we could pretend we just didn’t see them there. Never mind that we’ve ignored countless other unpleasant encounters and it is likely we will continue to do so.

If we make this about the dog, we’re not bastards anymore. We cry out for justice. We care. But we don’t, not really. Not in a way that helps anyone but ourselves. And even then we rationalize. The “Oh, if I had only known you needed help, I would have tossed a dollar or two your way.” helps us to sleep at night.

In reality, this display was about that old cliché, “ignorance is bliss”. If we don’t see the horror, it doesn’t exist, right? If we consign it to the corner of our eye, it won’t have to be in the center of our thoughts.

The artist made his point…we see what we want to see and ignore everything else.

This is truly disturbing. It is even more disturbing that people went to this exhibit, chatted amongst themselves and witnessed this event without calling authorities.

I don't know which is more sad...what this guy did or how many of you have completely missed the point of him doing it. Not once have I read an article that made me want to get up and fly to another country and directly insert myself into a helping situation until now. There are numerous countries throughout the world that have this same issue (sickly, ill, stray dogs), most in southeast Asia or Africa. Not once did I read a comment that asked, "What can we do to help?". You guys should be ashamed of yourselves. Judging this man as a serial killer to be, psychopath; yet, no one has asked where or how to help. If anyone has any info on where to contribute funds or volunteer help please let me know.

Starve this animal that calls himself an artist.

Animals do not have a choice. It is "OUR" responsibility to not look away and to do whatever we can to help. You reap what you sow. The takers eat well & the givers sleep well. What is your choice?

Thats animal cruelty right there. The reason why he starves dogs is because he cant starve his own children so he doesn't get arrested. But who would want to marry him? I would be scared to. Would if he tries to kill me? or would if he kills the children/child? hes a cerial killer. He should be put down for justice. Its not right to starve animals. They are just like people. Human or feline.

About three or four people have provided some ideas about why the artist might have done this. I think this demonstrates a failure by the artist. His method was so extreme, that any potential message has been totally lost in the outrage.

OK I know there are people and animals starving all over the world and we fat, lucky Americans just don't get IT. But, I also know that not everyone in Managua is penniless and starving. And certainly not those people milling about in the video looking all "I'm so hip and cool at this starving dog art exhibit", so I have to ask: Are the people viewing the dog starving not somehow complicit? If I had been there, I would have taken the dog away with me, or fed the dog the food right there on the freakin' wall or at the very least called the authorities. I can't believe this is the whole story. If it is, the people in this gallery are just as guilty of being inhuman as the so called artist. How truely pathetic!

Emaciated dogs like that one need alot more than food and being "taken in". They need EXTENSIVE vet care. I think he got his point across well. I've seen more bizarre art than this... And PLEASE stop saying her starved the dog by the way he "looks" people. It takes a good while for a dog to look that bad, you cannot starve a dog for a day or even a week and have it look that bad. The exhibit was THREE hours! THREE. Tying him up there wouldn't have been as bad as putting him in a shelter cage or a pole, or on a patio. Heck, I'm sure it's alot less worse than being outside in the blazing sun.

As for the fool who wished a famine on Honduras for the death of this dog: How in the hell can you call the the man who did this cruel. You would rather children die than a dog.
I live in Honduras. I do poverty relief in the mountains. I know what it looks like to watch a child die of starvation or worm infection. The average person here makes apx 2 dollars and fifty cents per day. 2 pounds of rice costs 2dollars and sixty cents. Figure that up in American ratios if you are smart enough.
I know if people could afford to buy bullets or guns, they might shoot the dogs to keep them from suffering. However I assure you that they will not buy food for a dog while their children go hungry.
Why don't you get off your righteously indignant butt and come down here and put your hand to the plow. I have a fear that some of the wealthier countries of the world may actually need to experience a little hunger in order to regain correct perspectives about what is important in life.

I have note been able to watch any footage of this because it is making me ill with what I do know already. I am equally outraged by those who may have seen the exhibit and didn't try to cut the animal loose or rescue it as by those who allowed the exhibit and any other tragedy, animal or human, that brings distress to another person or animal. This action was not needed and distresses me to the core.

A response to: “The starving dog as art”

There are so many cases in this world where people treat other animals badly.
In many cases you would say it is pure evil!

There are cases where cats are crucified, de-headed and burned alive.
Dogs are treated in the same manner. Tortured and neglected.

Discovery Channel reported a story where some guys used a chain saw on a horse for fun.
The poor horse suffered with his legs cut of for several hours before the horse died of a severe blood loss.

How can it be that we humans are treating our animals so bad?
How can artists starve a poor dog to death?

The BIG question is:

What can we do about it?

People have to make an effort. Not only just signing a name on a web-site.
And politicians need to be convinced to work more on this matter.

Here is a list:
http://www.animalinks.net/links/inter1.html
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer

HO
Bergen, Norway