Dear Editor,
I want your readers to understand the pain that dogs go through when their owners stray them. The following is just one of many examples I could relate.
Several months ago a poor family lived on Cowan Street; the sole bread winner was a horse cart owner but, unfortunately, he died leaving his wife and children along with their 3 dogs. The dogs lived a terrible life, tied to a cart on the other side of the street. Every time I went to shop at Didco outlet, I would see these poor animals panting, trying to hide themselves from the sun in what little shade they could find. Several times I took water and food for them and begged the owners to show some compassion; my pleas fell on deaf ears. Finally, the family moved away leaving the dogs behind, but untied.
With no one to care for them the dogs started to get sick, I made friends with two of the dogs and took them to the GSPCA. The remaining aggressive female was impossible to catch; she got pregnant and had to fend for herself. A volunteer and I picked up several puppies she delivered at her ‘home’ on the street. The poor dog eventually got a venereal tumour, (venereal disease) from the many males mating her. We continued trying to catch her, even adding sleeping tablets to her food, but she constantly outsmarted us. On one of my visits to see her I saw that her tumour had gotten much worse; I knew I could not give up and would have to try harder to catch her. After the tumour grew larger and more grotesque, persons on the street started tormenting her, causing her to move to another location. An employee at Didco told me where to find her. The dog had taken refuge in a tenant yard on Fort Street, Kingston, hiding in an old outdoor washroom. I informed the residents why it was important to get the sick dog out of the yard with small children (risk of disease or being bitten) and asked them to help me catch her. A resident named Mr Craig agreed to assist. It was a struggle to catch her as she fought hard and tried to bite but after what seemed like an hour we managed to get her into a kennel. Her tumour had gotten so bad she was bleeding non-stop.
We took her to the GSPCA where I paid $1000 and watched her put to sleep humanely by injection, thanks to the vet-technician who was very gentle with her in her final moments.
Please readers, if you don’t want your animals please don’t stray them. Life on the street is very cruel. The best option is to find them a new home by talking to friends and neighbours and advertising in newspapers or on the radio and TV, or for those with computers, on Facebook. If this fails then people should take their animal to the GSPCA or talk to their vet about euthanizing them.
“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight.” -Albert Schweitzer
Yours faithfully,
Syeada Manbodh