The Story of Doleful Danielle

Bangkok has a lot of traffic jams. A lot less than there used to be, but people still spend lots of time in their cars, waiting for traffic lights to change. That spells opportunity for enterprising street dogs like Doleful Danielle, who earned her nickname by pulling sad faces and soliciting change and food scraps from sympathetic motorists. She's pictured here working the intersection of Asok and Sukhumvit during the evening rush hour.
Danielle is quite good at her craft, and regularly pulls in more cash than any other street dog. But she's smart about her success: Instead of blowing her earnings on frivolous expenditures and fancy meals, Danielle decided to join a gym, to keep in shape and enable her to maintain the level of athleticism needed to dart in and out of traffic while collecting coins. One look at those rippling muscles and perfect physique tells you all you need to know about Danielle's commitment to fitness.

Her plan is to work a few more years, make some investments, and then start channeling the fruits of her successes back into the Bangkok street community. She's going to give lessons on how to really work the sympathy angle with motorists, thereby sharing her natural talents and helping other dogs to leverage their own innate skills.