Humane Society objects to strychnine use

If you like your dog lock it up in your yard and if it’s a jumper, tie him down because tonight, strychnine is coming to town. That’s right, tonight the City Council’s clean up campaign on stray dogs starts off at midnight. The Council says it’s trying to eliminate the eyesores on the street who pose as potential health hazards, but the Belize Humane Society has stepped up saying the strays will suffer unnecessarily. Veterinarian Michael DeShield says they agree the strays are a problem, but there are other ways to get rid of them.

Michael DeShield, Veterinarian

“It’s a very toxic drug, the animal dies very inhumanely, they die within an hour or two hours, but it’s very painful. They go into spasms and they actually die from exhaustion, from the muscles being contracted and hypoxia, the lack of oxygen. It’s a very, very painful way to put down and animal, and it’s not the answer to the stray dog problem. I think the Humane Society has a much better approach of going about dealing with the stray dog problem. And it is a problem, we recognize that, and we’ve been working with the City Council on previous occasions and we find it unfortunate that they hope to go ahead with this campaign that we really can’t endorse.”

A member of the Public Health Bureau will be accompanying the city council workers tonight to make sure that all the “bait” used is either eaten up or disposed of properly.