Dear Editor,
On Christmas Day I was travelling along the junction turn-off from DSL into the four-way lane on the East Bank to visit a friend when I noticed a dead horse by the grass.
It was a touching and emotional sight as I have never in my entire life seen how a beautiful horse, obviously a well-kept working horse, that had an owner, can be dead and forgotten without the slightest respect or compassion for this creature. How can the owner or persons walking by not sound an alarm to have him pulled off the side of the road.
What saddened and distressed me even more was that three-quarters of his body was on the grass, but his head was directly on the road and vehicles were speeding by just merely swerving to avoid cementing his head to the road.
How disturbing, how troubling, that people living in the vicinity can look out their windows and surroundings and see a once living creature just lying dead and his dead soul praying for his body to be removed from being crushed.
I ask myself, was this not Christmas Day, the anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ, who left footprints of kindness for humanity to follow without shame or disgrace.
I cannot toot my own horn and not feel guilty for not stopping to render assistance, and for a long time it will rest heavily on my heart that I fell short as an animal advocate to help my four-legged friend.
However this unfortunate horse died and came to be left lying on the road corner, it is a grim reality that animals throughout our nation suffer and struggle to cope with the hazards of unsafe roads, having no secure environment of their own.
Thousands of overseas Guyanese visit our homeland and witness a culture of street animals that have procreated over and over as a result of abandonment by long-ago owners who have migrated. My message to everyone with a higher moral discipline achieved while living in developed countries, is to make an input on animal welfare and protection, and curb street over-population by putting forward an initiative to the Guyana authorities.
Here are some initiatives to expand and build on. Encourage people to fence their yards to contain and enclose their dogs. Spay and neuter your pets. Vacant plots of lands with barriers can be utilized as sanctuaries to keep cows, horses, pigs, etc, off the streets. Provide any type of shelter to control and oversee your animals. Please help.
Yours faithfully,
Zenobia Williams
Animal Advocate
