Poisoning of stray dogs sparks controversy
It’s a problem that all concerned agree could and should be handled better … but the practice of poisoning Belize City’s stray dogs has persisted for decades. Might last night’s operation be the end of an era? Here’s what I found this morning.
Jacqueline Godwin, Reporting
This dog managed to escape the hunt but eighty five of his pals were not so fortunate. They succumbed to meat laced with strychnine as the Belize City Council worked from ten thirty on Monday night to two thirty this morning ridding the streets of these stray animals.
Delbert McKay, Sanitation Manager, Belize City Council
?Because it was not done for such along time, there is a lot of dogs out there and they are causing a lot of injuries. There are people riding bicycles and they attack the people on bicycles, they fall sometimes, they have school children on their bicycles and it causes accidents.?
The operation which was conducted under with the law that governs the eradication of stray dogs was led Belize City Council?s Sanitation Manager Delbert McKay, along with police and senior public health inspectors.
Delbert Mckay
?The dogs are eradicated using strychnine in a capsule form. The capsule is placed in a piece of meat and given to the dogs. We have to wait and make sure that the dog takes the bait. After we are satisfied that the bait has been eaten completely by the dog and there is no residue left then we move on. Because we cannot just throw it and leave it is a highly dangerous poison.?
As for the dog who just ate its last meal? Well, it takes up to thirty minutes for the deadly poison to take effect.
Caroline Bowen, Secretary, Belize Humane Society
?I think it is pretty obvious that everybody knows that the Belize Humane Society is against the method of the eradication, which is the use of the strychnine poison. For reasons that it is an extremely inhumane and painful death. The particular drug has been banned by the World Health Organization for quite sometime now.?
The Belize Humane Society is one organization that has spoken out against the manner in which the animals are eradicated. While all parties involved agree that something has to be done to control what is happening on the streets, it is the way the animals are put down that is cause for concern.
Caroline Bowen
?That is just what we are trying to do. Find a compromise where we can all work together. The Belize City Council, the public health and even the police department would be on it, the vet association and the humane societies. We can all come together and find, modernize Belize into a modern animal welfare community.?
Delbert Mckay
?We are interested in working with them. Because we know that from what the public health has told us it is a very violent poison and we regret doing it. We certainly would not want to do it.?
This little pooch is just one of the fifteen young four legged residents staying at the first shelter of its kind in the country. The facility is one of B.H.S.?s pet projects that will be used to find these animals a good home and also to humanize the eradication programme. The shelter which is still under construction is situated at mile four and a half on the Western Highway. B.H.S. secretary Caroline Bowen says there have been some delays but the work has been progressing and it is only a matter of time before the dog pound will be officially opened.
Caroline Bowen
?We were unable to do anything until we had a location where animals lets say could be congregated for a euthanasia type scenario. So when we were given the lease. I guess it was last year, we signed a five year lease with the Belize City Council, the previous council, so now this past summer we did all the developing of the property and it is still in construction phases, but you know we are just taking one month at a time and going along doing with what we can.?
Today the Belize City Council and sanitation workers were out collecting the dead animals but it has been a long process.
Delbert Mckay
?We document where we poisoned the dogs and then we make a note of that and then send out the team to those locations. Unfortunately, some dogs are stronger an they go farther distance when they die. So we are depending on the public to call us and give us the information on where these dogs are located.?
Once collected the dead dogs are taken to the garbage dump, placed in a hole and covered. It is not known when another operation will take place but Mckay says they are hoping by then a new method of eradicating the stray animals will be finalised.
Delbert Mckay
?After we evaluated and see if we had made an impact, we will go back and check with the humane society and see if there is something in place before we do anything. So we will try to involve everybody and see if we can come up with something more humane and something sustainable.?
In the meantime some of the dogs at the B.H.S. Shelter are up for adoption. If you are interested in giving one of these animals a good home or would like to financially assist the facility, you can visit the compound between the hours of nine and four thirty. The animal shelter is located at mile four and a half on the Western Highway.
