the antigua humane society

Here on Antigua and Barbuda we are sometimes guilty of being a little behind when it comes to the proper treatment of animals. Of course this is being very general and most of the animals here in Antigua and Barbuda are treated very well indeed. Some animals like my "Sparky" are treated too well!

Anyway, despite what the silly animated forecasts on www.weather.com, yahooweather.com and others which have led people to believe it rains all the time, we have had almost no rain at all in Antigua for about 2 months and the poor grazing animals have been suffering. Isn't it funny how most people think its raining here all the time after seeing a stupid thing like this:

http://weather.yahoo.com/forecast/ACXX0002.html

Many animal owners have had a difficult time finding food and water for their animals which often are kept in remote areas, but as we can see from the post on the antigua news group, some owners have neglected their duty. This situation sounds aweful, and after speaking with someone at The Antigua Humane Society http://www.antiguaanimals.org/ i have a better understanding about how serious this drought is. They are overwhelmed with donkeys, cats, dogs and horses and only are able to operate with donations from people like us. Their funds are limited and they are unwilling to take any more large animals as this would take away from the ones they have now. They need more financial assistance as you would immagine. Feed for donkeys and horses seems to be a big problem at the moment. All of this kinda stuff is more expensive here. They gave me the phone number of the Government Vet. There are 2 of them: Dr. Goodwin and Dr. Diaz. I spoke with Dr. Goodwin who seems like a lovely caring lady faced with a very difficult job. She was sending someone from her office to go and inspect the poor horse, but said that she only had two options. The first is a tricky one which relies on finding the owner. If and its a big IF they find the owner, then he can be forced to do something and or face penalties. The problem with this she says, is that when conditions are as dry as they are now many animal owners who can't look after their animals seem to dissapear. If they can not be located, then the only thing left to do is option number 2 which is a terrible one. Putting the animal down is the last resort and something that the Vet hates doing. Anyway, they will determine if this has to be done in this case after the animal is located.

Someone on the message board said that nothing can be done, but as you can see just from reading above there is much to be done and much that can be done. I think that if the Antigua Humane Society had more resources then they would be able to take in more animals. I think that you can email them first and then send them a donation. Their web site with email is :http://www.antiguaanimals.org/welfarefund.htm and i think you should email them if you care about stray and unfortunate animals in Antigua and Barbuda. Its people like you and me that will make a difference. Something can be done. Email them. This blog is co-sponsored by the good people at JHR.