This letter is written in response to one of the top stories in the 9 May edition of the Caymanian Compass, ‘Swamp cancer killing k9’s’.
As a person who has visited your island several times, I was very discouraged to hear about dogs dying.
Although it happens almost everywhere in the world, it doesn’t help when you don’t have mandatory spaying and neutering, and this results in having strays all over the place.
As a dog lover, I came to paradise two-and-a-half years ago and ended up taking two dogs home to the states.
The resort where I stayed had several dogs that roamed the grounds. Most employees tried to shoo off the pests as they were called them.
We, however, took in one and decided from the moment we saw him that we would take him home. While dealing with the politics of taking the stray off the island and going back and forth to the vet we found another dog at the vet already.
The vet had been given a dog by a local from West Bay that, according to her was a stray, and had just given birth to a litter of pups. This local had taken the stray dog to the vet to have her spayed so her future of putting more strays on the streets would be over.
We fell in love with her and decided to take her home also. Both dogs are leading great lives off the streets and now know what snow is.
In the article written in the 9 May edition the Agriculture Dept official (Brian Crichlow) sort of throws the blame at dog owners for letting their dogs of the leashes.
I tend to disagree with that comment.
From what I’ve seen on my several visits this isn’t a dog-owners problem but more so a problem with the fact of not having spaying requirements.
As seen in my dog’s case, the person who brought her in from the streets up in West Bay remembered seeing her pregnant, but never saw the pups.
Anyway I just thought I’d share my two-cents worth.
If you’ve ever seen the TV show The Price is Right the emcee Bob Barker always closes the show by saying ‘remember to have your pets spayed or neutered’.
Daniel Strickler
Maryland, USA
Related Videos
