It is becoming readily apparent now that this News Blog is seen as a very aggressive move for change in this country. I want it known because I disagree with a given situation, organisation or entity does not mean I am Islamic/Catholic/PEP/NDP/Atheist, I just want to see the right thing being done every time.
I am not in favour of animal cruelty, but I will be dangerously vociferous if my pets are threatened like when two huge stray dogs last night tried to attack my cats in my front yard (couldn’t lock the gate as wife had not returned from work yet)! If I caught them, then I strongly doubt the Hope Sanctuary and I would be allies at the moment, LOL! Nevertheless, that is a matter of what I call SELF-DEFENSE as it is my pets and by extension? My family without a doubt!
What I do object to is when dogs are locked up in tiny cages as cheap alarm systems or cats are stoned for random target practice… Unfortunately there are far worse things happening right here in Barbados and they are either kept quiet so as to be able to keep your paycheck or because those who should stop such things are the very instigators or perpetuators of such filth!
There are ads on the radio right now trying to redress these societal flaws, but they are told as if the speakers were dogs and making according puns thereof, so while well-intentioned, they can remove the edge from the reality of this alarmingly prevalent situation.
The Hope Sanctuary recently got Simon Cowell while here in Bim to endorse their van that travels the country to neuter pets (all six cats I have are “fixed” but since my dog does not roam on the street, she has the backyard to roam and therefore every six months is not allowed on the beds nor the sofa).
This is not all they do, they try to rescue as many abused creatures as possible, I will not lie when I tell you that I wept when I read their website and even now I still am a bit watery eyed – some did not make it and what I show are but a few…
* This old dog came from the bottom of university hill and the owner’s story was, she was taking some boiling oil to a neighbor when she tripped and accidentally spilled the oil over the dog. [She had no burns on herself] The Hope Sanctuary took this dog to the Vet.She is healing well now, but she’s still wary of people. * I came across a black garbage bag along my street a few weeks ago and dreaded what might be inside! I worked up the courage after a few days to look and this is what I found –It is not uncommon for people to place a “live dog” in a double plastic bag for it to suffocate and dump it in some isolated area. Maybe the dog did not bark enough or tore the owners panties I don’t know. But it does not take much for a dog to go through this torture!
Funnily enough, this bag was laying in the sun for a few days with road works crew de bushing the area and when one of them saw me take a photo he got on his cell phone and the bag disappeared that same day?
* I found this one 500 yards away from The Globe Drive in. Judging by the teeth the dog was still young.
* Here are the pics of the poor dog that my friend and I picked up this morning from my trainers house when he called to say it walked in to his home.Took it to John Duckhouse (St Thomas) who had to put it to sleep. This needs to be put on a poster, I am sick and tired of some of us saying they don’t want to see bad photos, well I can tell them as well as you, what it’s like to see this in real life.
My trainer says he had seen the dog running around playfully off and on, and thought it belonged to someone as it had a collar and did not look in bad condition.* You can see this dog if you park at the back of the Royal Bank of Canada below the University, the dog is opposite.
We have given the owner some help and advice, and he looks a bit better now.
Now that I have come forward to do this, it is not likely that I will get invited to any to see if they exist and who attends… But I would rather make it known and let’s see what like-minded citizens can do to halt such atrocities.
There needs to a be a massive educational programme for Barbadians to understand the value of pets! Insurance agents and doctors will tell you if you have a pet, you have that much of a better chance to live longer; it creates the nurturing factor needed for parenting when it comes along, etc. This teaching must not be for rural but suburban areas as well – I remember one of my step-daughter’s schoolfriends was terrified of Strypes as he was thought to be huge for a cat! I said you better not hope to see Patch or Simon (who also met with the dark side of cruelty in 4/7/2004) as they are even bigger whereupon the girl insisted on leaving the house…
A few years ago, when I went to a meeting at an associate’s house in Rockley, they adopted one of my kittens from the 2nd litter ever born at my place and the tyke was 8 weeks old at the time. Now, everyone in the meeting that night learned there was one man (from a Government Department) who was TERRIFIED of cats – he literally climbed on top of the couch to get away from this beast of a {daring to be friendly}kitten, LOL!
Apart from educating people on the value of animals other than as a food source, legislature must be created and then given appropriate enforcement for the Animal Control Division of the Ministry of Agriculture to be able to search, raid and prosecute folk suspected of harbouring or implementing animal abuses!
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