AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye San Pedro Belize Dog Eradication Controversy

Admins dont get to ignore. Have to see all the sordid details. Urghh.

Maybe we shouldn't ignore him/her; maybe we should pray for them. I can't imagine getting to live a place like Belize full time and being so discontent.

To Dog lady,
Boy, as the Director of the caye caulker Humane Society I have to tell you, that the police are uneducated here, when you walk through san pedro and see all the folks on cell phones and internet cafes, nice restaurants and resorts its hard to think of this place as third world. When you have to understand some of our Police Officers cant even read, and get paid only about $20 a day, some even less, well it is third world. The Government is just that. We have some wonderful people in Government, Police..I think Sgt Wade is great and Alberto Villanueva is a modern thinking Chairman here. However you get what you pay for. Police here drink in bars with their guns on, shoot at animals in the street with citizens and children nearby. They play the music so loud at the station they cant hear you when you call for an emergency and hang up on you. This is not the majority, but the minority, still it exist all the time.
Last time I went out with The Dept of Health and Police on an overnight eradication using humane efforts they were all onboard doing it with a Vet and eutanasia meds. Still if the States had no animal control cops, and animal cruelty enforcment it would be a whole other world. This is a whole other world here when it comes to such things.
On the positive side, Belize is a Jewel of a place. In the 3 years our clinic has been open we now see so many more families wanting to do the right thing for thier pets. They are having thier pets fixed and vaccinated. Things are getting better, baby steps..at times its two steps back and one step forward..and it usually the animals that suffer.
San Pedro has a huge dog problem compared to us. 1,000 street dogs, boy I can name all of ours.
Dog Lady as I re read your post I think you were unfairly judged, good intentions should not be attacked when its the good of the animals that is suppose to be the intent.

Cooper, all of the police officers can read and they are all paid more than $20 per day unless they are unpaid, volunteer special constables.

As will I be! We have a good workable plan to present......will post results of meeting asap.

Good luck, Bill! Hope it goes well.

Thanks Cooper- really my intentions are not to insult anyone. Whether or not the police have a formal education; demonstrating how to use a catch pole, snake tongs or other equipment and how to properly handle a dog are not difficult to grasp. Lord knows we have some under educated folks working for our city as we speak. Their tickets are a mess but they get the job done. And they make incredible dog catchers. It seems it would be an incentive for anyone who is a volunteer officer or looking for job security; a job with potential to become a full time position in the future.

Having worked with people who have less education such as felons re-entering the work force and kids who have left high school way to early, some of them have turned out to be the best employees. Maybe because they understand that their job options are limited and the strive to do well for the sake of their families.

I suppose it is hard for me to grasp that Belize is third world because they have fought and won their independence, created a constitution, and written intelligent laws to serve and protect their people. And the people there are so incredible. I do see Belize as a very young nation looking to establish themselves, a developing country perhaps.

Another reason may be that I live in what some think of as the greatest country on earth. We have the exact same problems- People that cannot care for families due to poverty and drugs, crime going unchecked, corruption in our government and policing agencies, the list goes on. And for some here on this board their answer may be that the problems aren't near the level as they are there, but I have had armed police officers tell me that they will not go into certain communities here (even during the day) without at least 3 cars to back them up. That is a sad state of affairs for a "first world" country and seemingly not much different than the current problems facing San Pedro.

The good news is that San Pedro is small and geographically confined which should mean that once each problem is wholeheartedly addressed and government and community cooperation is the norm, many of the issue should be containable.

After a 90 minute meeting with the mayor today.....I want to report that there should be no repeat of the dog eradication by poisoning that we saw last week. On Thursday of this week....Reef TV will host the mayor and Peter of SPAH and myself for an announcement on how we intend to go forward with controlling the companion animal population.

If you have a roaming dog or cat, you may want to contain your pet as roundups and humane euthanasia are to be scheduled as an alternative. I am the last person on this island that wants to destroy a healthy dog or cat.....but the alternative is a death for them in a painful manner. The delivery system we will use will consist of a sedative to put the animal to sleep and allow them to ease into death.

I am going to need financial help from everyone who loves our companion animals.....please open your hearts and checkbook to help. We are having a cook off Wednesday nite at Wet Willies and will have a donation box set aside just for this. Thank you.

That is really good news (and sad as well as I agree it's always a sad day to euthanize a healthy animal) and thank you for posting an update. I will be making a donation to Saga to assist with this today. Just a question of clarification though... will there be any way of ensuring that the animals that are euthanized are absolutely stray and don't somehow have a home? I also hope this is extremely well advertised, on TV, the paper, posted notices and any other media to be sure that people are made aware.

Thanks for the update, Bill. Glad this was such a productive meeting! It is sad to have any animals euthanized, but far better than poisoning. Thank you for helping our mayor see the light, and I'll be sure to earmark an extra donation for Saga for this cause.