Last week, someone from Radio 1 phoned me to have my opinion on the Stray Dog Overpopulation problem in Mauritius. This was to be a broadcast on the alarmist picture the Mauritian SPCA had described in the press lately. Supposedly because the Ministry of Tourism is no longer funding them, we would soon be swamped by an army of rabid stray dogs! I don't know how people still buy that sort of crap...over and over again! It's been how many years now that the "Stray Dog Population Control" has been conferred onto the MSPCA? Some of you reading this weren't even born since this campaign started...1972!Thirty nine years later we are still facing the same problem, hearing the same lame lies and yet year after year tax-payers money is being spent in this and now still more is needed.
During these 3 decades, thousands of animals have been caught and brutally terminated; several Acts have been voted at Parliament; dozens of vehicles and equipment have been bought and yet...stray dogs are still a problem. Mauritius is a tiny island and does not share any terrestrial borders with any country...how on Earth are we still waging a war against stray dogs
Visibly, people somewhere, somehow messed up in their tasks...and in all this we have ourselves to blame...because each time the MSPCA comes up with an excuse the authorities just "abide" and cash out more money and everybody approves by remaining silent and applauding. Well, I am not participating in this!
According to law, any dog found unaccompanied on the streets is a stray; and this encompasses the real homeless strays and your pet doggie. Throughout all these years mostly owned dogs have been picked up...not because they were really strays and a danger to public but more because they were a juicy source of easy money with the fines the owner had to pay etc. The real strays were left on the roads to breed without control.
Catch and Kill...is that all we can expect from a "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals"? Quite paradoxical hey! And yet, that is the sad reality. See http://www.radiomoris.com/forum/discussions-generales/3370-mauritius-society-prevention-cruelty-animals-mspca.html
Catch in a brutal way and kill in an even more atrocious way...that was the sad reality only a decade ago; when some found it totally acceptable electrocute dogs and proudly heap them in mound to make a poster out of it. It took me personally, 3 years of fighting and a lot of pressure from PAWS to make this barbaric act stop. But dogs continue to be caught and killed, now by lethal injection apparently...and God knows who handles this syringe and how it is being done.
All this in the name of what? For a more postcard, tourist-attracting Mauritius? For more money? Just for the sake of being cruel and dumb? Nobody even bothers to ask...all that matters is the IMMEDIATE removal of "eyesores" as I read in the newspapers lately.
How does a dog end up being tagged as "stray"...or why would a dog be unaccompanied on the streets? 1-Owner's yard not fenced, 2-Animal is ill-treated or not fed by owners, 3-Animal is not spayed/neutered by owner, 4-Owner releases the pet dog on the streets in the evening for him to go poop outside, 5-Owner dumped the animal because it was a burden for him. Did you notice the recurrent word in all these reasons? Yes?...and yet the animals are the ones to pay the price with their lives...they are the ones that need to be killed. Owner just goes and gets another puppy and the cycle starts all over again. This is not news anymore...what I am writing now, we have been saying that for years and years now to all the Decision-Makers; we have been stressing on the fact that the real, long-term solution lies in educating and responsibilising owners and spay/neuter campaigns. But hey, who cares about long term? What we need is these mongrels out of sight and we want it NOW!So go ahead with the massacre...but nobody realises that physically removing 10 animals is creating a void to be filled by 10 more...that's a dumb law of population dynamics.
The journalist must have sensed the smirk on my face when I said "ok for the interview" and since he wanted to play the game of the MSPCA...he never called me back! Loool! Dr Sam and his bloody loud mouth!
Plain bland TRUTH...Naaaaaaahhhh! We need crispy, shocking LIES!
Until, the press and the Government realise that they are barking at the wrong tree...we will still be here another 39 years complaining about lack of funds to catch and kill dogs in this country.
Prevention of Cruelty much?
Great post! I totally agree with all you've said. I have created a page on facebook entitled "Defending street dogs in Mauritius - they need you; be their voice." I have also created a petition on Care2. Here is the link:http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/defending-street-dogs-in-mauritius---a-compassionate-approach-urgently-needed/
ReplyDeleteI thank you wholeheartedly for all you do for animals. It is sad that there are no more comments of this blog post! I have tried emailing government authorities. Don't know if they will even read it or take into consideration the serious need to adopt animal welfare approaches whilst drafting legislation and implementing a humane dog population control programme. If you ever have a look at the petition and feel that there are some things I can add, improve or change, please do let me know.
Thanks Rajshree...good to hear that you have started a string of action on this!
ReplyDeleteI wrote this post in March 2011 and as you knopw after the budget, the Government has cashed out even more money (10.5 Millions)to buy more vans, catch more dogs, catch 7 days a week...i.e. to KILL more dogs!
Feel free to contact me if ever you think I might be of help to "the cause".