Humane Animal Eradication Begins in San Pedro

A few weeks ago I blogged about the brutal stray dog eradication by strychnine poisoning by the San Pedro Town Council on July 9th.  Since that time, Bill Milstead with SAGA Humane Society (and my husband) and Dr.Laurie Droke with San Pedro Animal Hospital met with Mayor Daniel Guerrero to stop the eradication by strychnine poisoning after a national out cry from animal lovers about the inhumane process used to control the dog population in San Pedro. 

Mayor Guerrero agreed to stop the inhumane practice but also made it very clear that he is depending upon SAGA to handle the humane eradication of the island dogs in an efficient and timely manner or the town council will authorize the poisoning by strychnine poisoning again.  The first week of August SAGA will begin the process of picking up any stray animals on the streets and will do so on a continuing basis.  Any animal picked up will be held for 3 days.  If the animal has not been sprayed or neutered, SAGA will do so and the fees will be passed on to the owners.   If no one claims the animals, a decision will be made as to the adoptability of the animals and they will either be humanely euthanized or kept a short while longer in hopes of finding a good home for them.   

 

 

 

 

SAGA is asking for your help by donating, you can contribute by going by SAGA or through the website at www.sagahumanesociety.org.  SAGA is a 501c charity through the United States which makes your donation 100% tax deductible for Americans. 

Brutal Dog Eradication by Strychnine in San Pedro

It should have read "Dogs Beware".

 

As many of you know, we moved to San Pedro, Belize this past January with our three Siberian Huskies.  They are part of our family and we could have never moved to Belize without them.  Back in the states Bill was on the Board for both CARA (Community Animal Rescue and Adoption) and Mississippi Spay and Neuter.  So naturally one of the first things he wanted to do when he got to Belize was help with SAGA Humane Society.

Our pups love riding around town in the golf cart.

 

Waiting for their daddy to get home.

In Belize dogs are not always looked at the same way as we do in the states.  Most of the local dogs do have homes and owners.  Most wear collars and all seem to be well fed.  But the dogs are allowed to roam about town and yes defecate on the streets and beaches.   A few weeks ago Bill signed on as the President for Saga and had a meeting with the Mayor of San Pedro about stray dogs running the streets.  The Mayor said he needed something to be done and Bill asked that he work with Saga and try to find a solution. 

We had heard about the way dogs in Belize and other 3rd world countries were poisoned in mass eradication roundups.  The last time this what they call "Bait Strychnine" happened in Belize was about 5 years ago when a mass poisoning eradication project was carried out in Belize City.  The San Pedro Humane Society heard about it and immediately contacted the Town Council and then Mayor Elsa Paz to have a meeting to suspend further eradication of stray dogs for the time being. 

Showing how dogs were poisoned with Strychnine.  (Reef TV)

Fast forward to July 9th, 2012.  Everyone is waking up and checking their facebook page, like we all do.  It has happened again on the streets of San Pedro.  31 dogs were poisoned during the early morning hours with Strychnine laced meat balls.  Yes at around 2:00am, these poor defenseless animals were poisoned and then picked up and thrown in the back of trucks to be taken off and buried somewhere on the island.  This is being done due to the health issues of animal feces.

What is Strychnine and how does it poison its victim.  According to Wikipedia, Strychnine poisoning produces some of the most dramatic and painful symptoms of any known toxic reaction.  Death occurs as a result of respiratory arrest.  Following the ingestion of strychnine, symptoms of poisoning usually appear within 15 to 60 minutes.

There has been a national out cry to the Mayor of San Pedro to stop this cruel and inhumane treatment of animals.  There are ways to humanely euthanize animals.  Saga is more than willing to work with the Mayor and San Pedro Town Council to help with the stray animal problem.  Most of these dogs did have owners and families that cared about them.  Pet owners need to be educated to proper pet ownership and benefits of spay/neuter.  Learn about leash laws and cleaning up behind your pet on the streets and beaches in town.  The biggest and most important things that we can teach the people of Belize is to spay and neuter their pets.  That in itself can help stop the killing of poor and innocent animals.  We just have to work together to find a solution and STOP STRYCHNINE POISONING.

UPDATE:  Today PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) became involved in the issue of Strychnine Poisoning of the animals in San Pedro on July 9th, 2012.  Today at 5:00pm on Belize Reef TV, the Mayor of San Pedro, Daniel Guerrero addressed the issue of Strychnine poisoning of the 31 dogs by the Town Council.  The original plan was to go out every other night for approximately two months and round up and poison about 200 animals.  During his interview today at five, he has agreed to suspend all poisonings and to consult with both Sage Humane Society and the San Pedro Animal Hospital on finding a more humane and ethical way of dealing with the dogs in San Pedro. 

 

Mayor Danny Guerrero suspends brutal dog eradication. (Reef TV)

Dr. Baptist from SAGA explaining a more humane way to euthanize animals. (Reef TV)

San Pedro Animal Hospital

Saga Humane Society

Doggie Rehab in Belize

Barney is recovering well thanks to Dr. Baptist at Saga. 

Well if you have been following my blog lately, you know that I wrote about how "A Walk on the Beach Ended with a Trip to the Vet" when Barney was attacked about two weeks ago when two pit bulls jumped over a fence and went straight for Barney's throat.  Bill managed to pull one of the Pit Bulls off of Barney while the owner got the other one.   The owner of the Pit Bulls was bitten several times and had to make a trip to Belize city to see his step father who happens to be a doctor.  Bill had lots of road rash on his arms and knees.  Luckily every one survived this incident and we are thankful.  We know it could have ended much worse. 

I am happy to report that Barney is doing well.  But he did have to go back to the vet when fluid built up on his incision and busted the stitches out.  We took Barney back to see Dr. Baptist at Saga and he put in a drain tube and more stitches again.  Barney went back to the doctor this week and they have removed the drain but he still has the stitches, all 33 of them.  Yep, he had a total of 33 stitches put in from this pit bull dog attack.

Our oldest female husky Alina who is over 11 years old also had to go see Dr. Baptist this week.  Back in June of 2011, Alina had a cancerous tumor removed from her eyelid by our wonderful vet from back home in the US, Dr. Mike Randall, owner of Randall Veterinary Hospital in Byram, Mississippi.  Alina was then diagnosed with Melanoma skin cancer.  The tumor has since grown back, which Dr. Randall said it would.  So Alina was supposed to go see Dr. Baptist at Saga on Tuesday to have the tumor removed, but when Bill got to Saga there was a note on the fence that said Dr. Baptist would not be in his office today and come back tomorrow.  Yep, that is how it works here in Belize.  So Wednesday Bill took Alina back to see Dr. Baptist and he was in his office that day.  Dr. Baptist removed Alina's tumor once again.  Alina also had a fatty tumor on her chest which he also removed at the same time.  Surgery and drops for Alina's eye infection was $200.00BZ ($100.00US).

These pictures are from where Dr. Mike Randall with Randall Veterinary Clinic in Byram, Mississippi originally removed the cancerous tumor from Alina's eye.

It looks like "Doggie Rehab" around our house.  Both Alina and Barney are having to wear some of Bill's t-shirts to keep them from pulling on their incisions and getting them dirty.  Both seem to be on the mend as long as we can keep them from tearing out any more stitches. 

I don't think Alina much cares for wearing Bill's t-shirt.  She said yellow is just not

her color. 

Please, please take this shirt off of me..it's hot!!

This is where Dr. Baptist removed the fatty tumor from Alina's chest.

Alina also had an infection in her eye which was causing her eyes to run, so we are having to put drops in both of Alina's eyes every day. 

Drops for Alina's eyes to clear up an infection.

Barney's incision is healing up nicely now.  These stitches should disolve on their own but Barney has to go back next week and be checked again by Dr. Baptist.

Bill hasn't been taking the huskies on any walks since the attack, but in a few more weeks he hopes to find a safer route and get back to their walks.  The pups are really missing the walks, but for now they just get rides in the golf cart around town. 

Many of my readers and friends have asked, "what has happened to the two pit bulls"?  The answer is nothing.  Unlike in the US where we are from, these two dogs would have probably been euthanized. In Belize, Pit Bulls are a popular choice of dog to have.  They are chosen mostly for security reasons here.

Dog ownership is a big responsibility.  Bill and I encourage you to adopt from a shelter where there are so many beautiful animals that have been given up by previous owners and put in a shelter to live the rest of their lives.  These dogs need homes too.  Barney was in a kill-shelter in Jackson, MS.  I had heard about him from someone I had met.  They had been to the shelter and said they saw the most beautiful husky at the shelter.  I immediately went to the shelter and got him out before he was euthanized.  My intentions were to eventually find him a home.  He had to be neutered before I could bring him home.  I picked Barney up that next afternoon and fell in LOVE with him.  He was so beautiful and gentle.  I knew there was no way I could ever let him go and we didn't.  Although at the time we already had three other huskies, we decided to keep Barney as well.  I mean what was one more at that point.  We love our sweet Barney.

SAGA Monthly Cook-off and New Friends.

The view from the deck at Wet Willy's

Wet Willy's

Another view from deck at Wet Willy's

Thursday night was the Saga Humane Society monthly cook-off fundraiser.  This month it was held at Wet Willy's and was a "SEAFOOD" theme.  It was packed, Saga sold all 65 tickets and more people kept coming.  The monthly cook-off is always a fun social event.  We got to meet Diane one of the new owners of Wet Willy's, listened to live music and sampled some spectacular seafood entrees.  Saga was founded in March of 1999 and was named after one of the original dogs  in the shelter.

This months seafood entrees.

Lined up and ready to taste some seafood.

I told her it looked like she had big ears.

Lori a volunteer for Saga.

Grant a volunteer for Saga.

We sold lots of raffle tickets.

Gunter getting his prize.  Both the smoked salmon and smoked oyster dip took home some prizes.

This week we met some new friends Lisa and Ron while walking the dogs one afternoon on the beach.  They were here vacationing for two weeks from Seattle, Washington and are considering Belize for retirement one day.  We met up at the Tacklebox on Wednesday night and then invited them out to Wet Willy's for the cook-off on Thursday night.  We also met Don and Mary at the Saga cook-off.  Don was here on vacation from Pennsylvania filling in for Saga's veterinarian Dr. Baptist, while he was on vacation.  We all had a great time hanging out together.

Our new friends from Washington, Lisa and Ron.

Don and Mary from Pennsylvania

Bill and Lori

Bike hanging inside at Wet Willy's.

T-shirts hanging inside Wet Willy's.  It looks like Texas has been there.

It was very windy Thursday night and when I got ready to bike back home, this is what I found.  It appears that some one's plate of leftover food blew into my basket on my bicycle. 

SAGA Humane Society Italian Cook-off

SAGA Italian Cook-Off

This restaurant tends to change its name a lot.  It was Playa the last time we were here in 2010. 

Last night we went to the February SAGA Humane Society Italian cook-off hosted by Ristorante DiCaprio which is located on the beach in San Pedro.  For $10.00BZ ($5.00US) you could sample all of the dishes and vote for a winner. 

Here were a list of the entries. 

Cindy was dishing out the yummy food.

Alice was serving the lentil salad.

This was my favorite, the Stuffed Italian Sausage.

Mark and Jonathan were selling raffle tickets.  I told Mark to draw my name and he did!  Lucky Me. 

I won $50.00US to spend at the Buena Vista Restaurant at Captain Morgan's Resort on the beach.

You can buy a really cute SAGA calendar, I have one. 

Jewelry was also for sale to help raise money for SAGA.

It was time to tell the winners for the Italian food cook-off.  Lori Purdy won 3rd place with her Italian Summer Lentil Salad.

DiCaprio's Restaurant won 2nd place for the lasagna. 

The Stuffed Italian Sausage won first place.

I look forward to next months cook-off.

Everyone was having a great time and all the food that was prepared was wonderful.