Bummer and Lazarus [SEP] location of formation
Bummer and Lazarus
Bummer and Lazarus were two stray dogs that roamed the streets of San Francisco, California, United States, in the early 1860s. Recognized for their unique bond and their prodigious rat-killing ability, they became a fixture of city newspapers, were exempted from local ordinances, and immortalized in cartoons.
Background.
San Francisco, in common with other cities in the United States at the time, had a problem with free-ranging dogs. In Los Angeles in the 1840s, dogs outnumbered people
as the gentleman down on his luck, yet still faithful and conscientious, while Lazarus, the mongrel, was cast in the role of the sly and self-serving fair-weather friend. When Bummer was shot in the leg after only a couple of months, and Lazarus left him to run with another dog, it suited the press no end: Bummer was said to be feeling the sting of ingratitude at the desertion of the cur he had saved from death. Lazarus' return when Bummer recovered only added to the