Spay/Neuter 2,000 Stray Dogs & Cats in The Bahamas

September 13th 2015 - Baark! Report #11

Spay / Neuter Update

Our volunteers handle many calls from concerned members of the public when seeing stray dogs or cats, those with puppies or kittens are a high priority to us and we try and handle these cases as soon as possible. Today we’ll give you an example of what happens….

Lisa, one of our expert trappers received a call from a lady who said a dog had puppies in her carport and she thought there were 3. On arrival there were no puppies in obvious site she said it was three pups. However after a full search of the surrounding area a local security guard alerted her to a large truck on a vacant property. After crouching down and crawling underneath, Lisa could see some puppies and there was more than 3! After going further under and with assistance of the security guard she was able to retrieve a total of 7 puppies from large dirty puddles of water. There were 2 males and 5 females approximately 4 weeks of age.

Unfortunately the mother dog was not around at the time but Lisa will go back to the area again to trap her to have her spayed. So we have 7 now lucky and healthy puppies but now happens? Fortunately for us we have some great fosterers and networkers who work tirelessly to find homes for these little pups. Candice is one of these great people who was able to find homes immediately for three of the puppies, and then a foster for the other 4 to which she also provided them with puppy food and goats milk for nutrition. We’re happy to say that the remaining 4 also have homes waiting for them when they are ready.

At 8 weeks old all of the puppies will get spayed/neutered paid for under Baarks program working with local veterinarians.

With all of these programs combined, our update for the year so far is 275 spay/neuters for dogs and cats.

Education

As you’ll know from your previous reports, education is also a big part of the work that we do, with school visits to educate children on how to be responsible citizens through humane treatment of animals and care for their environment. Studies have shown that cruelty to animals in adolescence can lead to violence towards people in adulthood. Hence why we want to speak to young minds and shape them into caring, accountable young adults. Our interactive presentations cover dog bite prevention, spaying and neutering and responsible pet ownership.

With school starting, Shelley our education co-ordinator, is busy making appointments for visits to grades 1 and 2 classes. We’ll give you more info and how they’ve been getting on in our next report !

 We'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your continued support and generosity !

Links:

• Baark website

June 1st 2015 - Baark! Report #10

Spay / Neuter Update

Baark! have been busy so far in 2015, we've been fundraising at our exciting new ‘Carnivale Night’ event and putting the money from that and your donations to work with our spay/neuter and education projects, creating cleaner, safer and more responsible communities in the Bahamas.

Due to the outbreak of Canine Distemper we are still unable to carry out any high volume MASH spay/neuter clinics for dogs but we have been working with local vets to continue sterilization of dogs either bought in by our 'stray busters' or owned pets.  We ran a promotion during the month of may for $10 spay and neuters, available to low income families who could transport their dog but would ordinarily unable to pay the full costs.

To reduce the risks of the distemper we have also been providing free vaccinations for dogs before their spay/neuter surgeries where needed.

Luckily cats are not affected by distemper and we have been able to continue high volume clinics, our latest was a mini one day clinic carried out on Sunday May 17th at the Bahamas Humane Society.  Owners were encouraged to bring in their cats in the morning and following the surgery they could be collected the same day. We also had several trappers at different locations bringing in cats for spay/neuter and a simple ear clip before being released back to their environments. We had a challenging yet fun experience trying to catch several illusive cats at a gas station on Paradise Island, the majority of cats there have already been fixed and observed us , seemingly with some amusement, as we were setting the traps!

With all of these programs combined, our update for the year is 189 spay/neuters compeleted, which includes 71 dogs and 118 cats. 

Education

We beleive that education on animal welfare works in tandem with the spay/neuter and is of utmost importance to our overall program's success. We have held two interactive kids camps at the Bahamas Humane Society this year, the first for 14 children from Gambier Primary School, ranging in age from 4 to 11 and the second for 23 Grade Three students from Adelaide Primary School. The youngsters learn about having compassion and respect for animals and how to be responsible pet owners. This is done through classroom-based activities, hands-on practical encounters with the shelter animals and question and answer sessions with Inspectors and staff.

Shelley Hardman is our education co-ordinator and runs these camps with so much passion and purpose.  She says she hopes that we are able to create and cultivate animal ambassadors for the future. With all the cruelty and neglect that we witness on a regular basis, not just towards animals but also amongst people, we are trying to create a future generation of compassionate individuals who are capable of great empathy toward their fellow Bahamians and the animals they share this beautiful Island with.

Baark! will carrying out more camps and visits once the schools return in September.

We'd like to take this opporutnity to thank you all for your continued support and genorosity - we could not make such a difference without you !

Links:

• Baark! Website - see all of our latest updates !