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Photo: @SusanMartelo via Twitter

CARTAGENA — Stray dogs and cats will now be treated a little better in the historic Colombian port of Cartagena, which has begun providing them with food and water dispensers.

The UNESCO World Heritage site will thus join a humane trend spreading across dozens of Colombian districts. With lobbying from animal rights activist Liz Villa, the city recently placed a dispenser in the Plaza de Joe Arroyo in its historical quarter — clearly marked "Come Dog" to avoid confusion — and has plans to place another in the Laguito sector, local newspaper El Universal reported.

Villa told the daily she began pressing for these when she read on the Internet that other cities had them. The daily reports that there are 78 such dispensers across the country, including in Bogotá, Medellín and Cali. The two in Cartagena have been placed in spots with "constant supervision" with someone tasked with changing the wate, refilling the food, and cleaning every two weeks.

"People have been told what the objective is," Villa says. "It's a food dispenser for street dogs and cats, not for general use."