Ricardo the Art Aficonado

This is Ricardo, a brown 4 year old brownish hound who really looks nothing like any stray dog you'd encounter on the streets of Bangkok. And that's because Ricardo had the good fortune of being adopted when he was younger by an Italian family and brought back to their homeland. His story is testimony to the efforts of organizations both inside and outside Thailand that help street dogs find happy homes all over the world.

Since coming to live with a family on the outskirts of Florence, Italy, Ricardo has become a big art aficionado. And that's why he's pictured sulking in this photo. He enjoys visiting Florence's Uffizi Gallery, where many of the world's finest pieces of art are displayed. But he wishes that the reportedly large number of works at the Uffizi that remain stored away in back rooms, out of the gaze of the public, will someday be accessible. So that they may be treasured like the rest.

Ricardo hasn't been back to Thailand since being adopted, but his human family has, and they recently brought back several paintings that they purchased from local Bangkok artists at the Chatuchak Weekend Market. After seeing these paintings, Ricardo was very pleased to see that the engine of artistic creativity is alive and well in the city of his birth.