AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye ANIMALS IN SAN PEDRO

How are the dogs and cats doing? Are they still being killed by the resort owners offering $100 to just anyone who will kill a dog? We noticed a lot of cruelty by the local people toward the animals. This was disturbing to us as tourists, and made it hard to relax and enjoy ourselves seeing the things we saw.

sounds like rumors.

not sure what you saw, but we've never seen ANYTHING like that. cruelty by locals and resort owners to animals? never saw it. not once.

every day we play with the beach dogs, and run all over with them. never seen anyone being mean to them.

on the subject, Saga Society is working on the island to make an animal shelter: //AmbergrisCaye.com/sagasociety/

In the US when they spot a loose animal, they pick them up and kill them after a couple days. I guarantee the beach dogs have far better odds of survival than a loose dog in the US.

I just donated a little money to the Saga Animal Shelter. I hope they get enough money together to build it. We saw some very cute dogs before Keith and hope they are okay. I can't believe they are putting poison out to kill them and some resort owners pay $100 to kill a dog. That is horrible. They should donate $100 for every dog they see to the Animal Shelter. A animal shelter would be so great for AC. Hopefully others reading this board will also donate.

That just aint true! Resort operators don't need to pay $100 (or any amount) to get rid of animals, they can just have the grounds men do it if necessary.
When you post a nasty rumour you should include proof (facts). You're doing more to damage the fundraising effort than all the resort people comboned!

AMEN

I've donated money to the Saga Society Shelter - that is definitely the best way forward. They are aiming to neuter/spay all the stray cats and dogs, and hopefully raise enough money to build a shelter for them. When I was there in December, all the stray dogs I saw were thin but not ribs sticking out, and seemed pretty comfortable with humans, so I don't think they are cruelly treated by the majority, just not owned by anyone to give them some tlc. The answer is the spaying program. If they stop having pups/kittens, then the problem will solve themselves. I am sure the resort owners would not try and kill these dogs, too many of their customers are animal lovers and they would be very very upset if they thought this was the case. Eileen and Bron from the Saga Society are doing their very best, but they need donations - check out their web page on the main AC website - it gives you all the information you'll need. And please dig deep in your pockets to help them out!

I have been in contact with Bron, who is a licensed vet on the island. She is going to Dallas in March, where she will be ordering supplies and needs all the assistence she can get. That translates to money. At the moment she has no means of sterilizing her equipment and the local nurse does it for her. Lack of supplies limits the amount of animals she can spay/neuter. We have another worthwhile cause here....let's all help out.

Lurker! I was not the one that started the rumor. I was reading what Luckyme had to say.
Maybe Luckyme actually saw it happening. I wonder. All I am trying to do is help out the animals. The dogs we saw where not afraid of people and very sweet and we notices locals feeding them and being nice to them but you never know what happens out of the view of the public. Knowing that someone is putting poison out is enough to make me angry. The problem started because of irresponsible pet ownership and is not the animals fault.

I have never seen overt cruelty displayed by anyone towards animals on Ambergris Caye, at least not by individuals. The local dogs are mellow and friendly, and abused animals do not behave that way. I do see signs of neglect in many of the animals, both dogs and cats, unfortunately. I think that much of that is caused by lack of resources and lack of knowledge.
However, there is what I would consider a cruel policy towards dealing with homeless animals when their numbers become too great: The local town board declares "Dog Eradication Day" and any dog who is found running free is executed by poison.
A lot of people are upset by this and hopefully, the spay-and-neuter efforts of the Saga Society and its supporters will put an end to this horrid practice.
I also see a lot of very hungry cats running loose-a situation that is not unique to Ambergris Caye, as we all know. But its hard for me to see hungry homeless cats, having six of my own, five of whom were rescued and adopted.
Hopefully, this will change as the concept of spay and neuter becomes more widely accepted and the number of homeless animals decreases.