Dear Editor,
I wish to reply to a notice published in the Stabroek News (November 8) and Kaieteur News sent by the Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA). As a former inspector who resigned from the society on June 30, 2010, I was shocked to see such a notice about me. The said notice insinuates from its very first line that I am committing cruelty to animals: “In the interest of preventing cruelty to animals, the Guyana Society for the Prevetion of Cruelty to Animals hereby advises the public that Mr. Colin Piper, former Animal Inspector of the GSPCA, is neither a Veterinarian or a Veterinary Technician, and is therefore not qualified to diagnose or administer treatments to pets, and definitely not on behalf of the GSPCA.”
For your readers’ information, I have given 5 years of service to the GSPCA in many capacities, including being an animal inspector, which entails investigating animal cruelty reports; the euthanasia of large and small animals; visiting residences to re-home dogs; making visits to lumber yards, the zoo and other locations with dog populations (including Mainstay Resort); and collecting sick animals, among others. I also served the GSPCA by doing the society’s banking, collecting supplies such as rice, cooking gas, soap powder, bleach and other items given by donors. My job also included taking dead animal bodies from the morgue and sometimes transporting them to the dumpsite for disposal. During my five years with GSPCA I often assisted Dr Bridgemohan with surgeries (spaying and neutering) and I worked along with the Canadian Animal Assistance Team vets with surgeries on cats and dogs. I have also helped to worm out, take out screwworms and treat dogs for ticks and mange at the GSPCA. During my time at the GSPCA I went to several schools to lecture on kindness to animals. Although I am not a certified vet or a veterinary technican, I would have to be pretty dumb not to have learned some things on the job. In fact, in 2007 I was successful at the Elementary Prosecutors Course at the Felix Austin Training College; I did the Education Volunteer Course in August 2006 at the Guyana Zoo, and in June 2008, because of my good performance at the GSPCA, I was even given a certificate for my “valuable contribution” to the GSPCA. In 2006, I got my Guyana Police Supernumerary Constable Precept.
On more than one occasion I have put my life at risk (see March 1, 2008 Stabroek News article ‘Woman held after loosing pit bulls on children, GSPCA workers mauled’), and I recently assisted Ms Syeada Manbodh in removing a Pitbull from a residence in Leonora; this Pitbull was locked in a small, filthy kennel for 6 days.
The Pitbull was vicious at first but was soon calmed down. I have picked up many diseased animals on behalf of the society and have been taken sick of unknown causes, more than once.
Consequently, the GSPCA insinuation that I contribute to animal cruelty is totally irresponsible and a misguided attempt to smear my character. Since I resigned from the GSPCA five months ago, I have received many calls about cruelty, including ones about certain back street ‘butchers’ who cut the ears and tails off animals without anaesthesia.
Why isn’t the GSPCA going after these and so many other people who mistreat animals, including horse-cart owners (see Sunday Stabroek front page October 24)?
The answer is that GSPCA and all the vets in Guyana do not have the time and resources to meet all the needs of Guyana’s animals.
Maybe part of the solution is to train more people to do what I do – I try to help animals, using my common sense and my limited skills and resources. For example, I talk to people about the importance of giving their animals plenty of water and good food; I show them how to bath their dogs and remove tick/worms and protect against mange; inform them it is not right to use harsh chemicals such as Baygon, and waste oil and Jeyes fluid on their dogs. I give them advice on spaying and neutering and provide the vets’ telephone numbers.
When I encounter a problem that my years of experience can’t deal with, I tell the animal owner to take their pet to see a qualified vet.
Editor, I would like your readers to know there is no one more passionate about preventing cruelty to animals than Colin Piper.
Yours faithfully,
Colin Piper
