(Jamaica Star) Many Jamaicans would jump at the chance to migrate to Canada but last Saturday it was 144 of the island’s most overlooked dogs who got the opportunity.
The terriers, most commonly known as mongrels, were taken via a chartered flight, heading to various homes. This is according to Tammy Browne, director of Montego Bay Animal Haven, who is the conceptualiser of Jamaica’s first international dog adoption programme.
“There are persons who have already adopted the dogs and some who are testing the waters to see if this is what they want. I am getting a lot of calls of how happy and impressed they are with the dogs. They have found the right homes for them,” she said. Browne stated that the Jamaican mongrels are very much sought after due to their toughness and size.
Browne expressed gratitude to all the Jamaican companies and individuals who have supported the mission.
NEGATIVE IMAGE
“We have had people who travelled from Kingston to help us prepare the animals for their trip. This shows how much Jamaicans love animals and it’s not the negative image that some have of them. The major problem is that it is so expensive to sterilise and properly care for the animals, so people just cannot afford it,” she said. Browne said the shelter had close to 300 dogs but COVID-19 had hampered the ability to properly care for them.
“We weren’t getting the food from the hotels anymore and people just didn’t have the money to take care of their own dogs, so a lot of them were being turned out on the streets. At a point in time we were told that we may have to put down some of the dogs, and that wasn’t an option,” she said.
Browne said she later reached out to Save Our Scruff, a non-profit animal rescue organisation in Canada, which welcomed her idea of having the mongrels migrate to the North American country. But a few days before the chartered flight, Browne got word that the plane’s landing gear malfunctioned and it would cost US$15,000 to secure another plane.
“That was money we didn’t have so I called the airline and pleaded my cause and they took off $12,000. The $3,000 was still a great deal of money but we raised the money via our social media pages and it happened. I’m still amazed by all of this,” she said.
