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

Nassau - Recently, volunteer Aliya stumbled upon 3 small kittens and their mother living on the side of a busy street in a residential area. A few residents had also seen the 6 week old kittens running across the street, a very dangerous situation for the cats. 

As it turned out the kittens were living in the gated garbage area of one home but as they got bigger and older, they began to venture closer to the road in front of them, following their mother. The owners of the home had several large dogs in the backyard so the environment was not the best for the small kittens. Michelle and Aliya made a plan to trap the kittens and their mother before any harm could come to them. Luckily, they were able to trap 3 kittens and the mother in one trip. The mother was spayed by a local vet, ear clipped and returned to the area where she was found. Another cat-loving volunteer who lives in the area now regularly feeds the cat and checks on her. 

Unlike the mother cat who was more feral, the kittens were young enough to be socialized and adopted so they were not returned to the roadside. Michelle and Aliya had the kittens examined by a vet who was able to give them their first vaccinations and also have them spayed. One of the kittens had an abscess on her paw from a previous injury which was also treated while at the vet. Another kind volunteer, Christopher, agreed to foster the 3 kittens and help socialize them in order to help find them good homes. After about 2 months with lots of love and care, the kittens are now a few months old and just getting settled into their new homes and loving life. You can see from the photos of the kitten in the traps to now living happily in their fur-ever homes - Another happy rescue tale from Baark!

 Family Islands  - Baark ! has already been to and conducted spay/neuter clinics on the islands of Long Island, San Salvador and Staniel Cay, Exuma. Each clinic has a lot of planning whereby we send ahead equipment such as traps and crates and some medical equipment , also often our truck which acts as transport.  As these islands do not have a locally based veterinarian we need to arrange to send one (or two) along with techs and volunteers to help with the clinic. We work with local residents on each island to find a suitable building location and advertise the clinic in advance of our arrival.

Long Island resident Jackie headed up her local clinic helping us to complete 35 dogs/cats to be fixed - some people travelled from the opposite end of the island to bring in their pets.

The Staniel Cay Yacht club along with Nassau based volunteer Lissa helped spearhead that clinic.  While we decided some photos were too upsetting to show supporters at this time - one cat was bought into the clinic in a very distressed state.  It has an elastic band stuck around its head and mouth that had embedded into the fur over some time.  Luckily the vets were able to remove it and the cat has now been given a clean bill of health. This is just one of many examples of what we find and how we can help stray animals !