By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

GRAND Bahamas’ Humane Society, faced with a serious financial crisis that might force it to close, is calling on the community to assist it with its operational costs.

“We cannot pay our bills,” said Tip Burrows, executive director, who announced that the facility is closing the shelter to all animal intake for one month and may have to lay off more staff.

The HSGB, which was founded in 1968, is one of the oldest non-profit organisations here on the island. Last year, it took in almost 1,500 unwanted abandoned, abused or neglected animals.

According to Ms Burrows, the shelter has grown from a small charity that helped a few animals in need, to “the largest animal shelter in the Bahamas.”

“We have done our best to alleviate animal suffering, nuisance animals, stray and roaming animals on this island and we are proud of what we have accomplished,” she said.

“At just the time we should be working even harder to achieve a lasting difference, we find ourselves in the untenable situation of being unable to continue operating. This would ultimately mean an increase in the number of starving, neglected dogs and cats roaming the island, which would not be pleasant for residents, visitors, or potential investors.”

The shelter is situated on Coral Road. Because of lack of funding, some three workers were laid off at the beginning of the year.

Ms Burrows said they are unable to pay staff and more lays offs are imminent. She said they must also drastically reduce the number of animals they care for.

The Grand Bahama Port Authority funds the shelter to a certain extent in exchange for the GBHS providing animal control service within the bonded area of Freeport.

However, Ms Burrows said that over the last several years the company has reduced its contributions for their services “to the point where we can no longer provide the same level of service”.

“The Bahamas government has never provided one penny towards the work we do, and they provide no animal services on Grand Bahama. In most developed nations, animal control is considered a responsibility of government,” she said.

“Complicating this further is the recent (July 2014) Bahamas Department of Agriculture’s requirement to issue a health certificate endorsement for any dog we send abroad, and the new restriction that these dogs must be at least six months old.”

Ms Burrows said the HSGB has paid the government over $1,500 from August to December for the endorsements.

“We were told this would be a temporary measure lasting about three months due to the Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) outbreak in Nassau. We were informed on January 26, that the restrictions and costs remain in place even though Grand Bahama has not registered one single suspected or known CDV case,” she said.

“Starting today, we are closing our shelter to intake for one month. This will allow us to continue to reduce our shelter population without 100 plus animals coming in simultaneously. We will evaluate our resources and options, to devise and implement a plan going forward in which we can hopefully still provide some level of service,” she said.

“Pet over-population is a community problem – we need the community to help us solve it. How can you help? Please write or call your elected officials and urge them to support government financial assistance for the HSGB, and to enact the Animal Protection and Control Act of 2010, so long overdue, and consider import restrictions for breeding dogs.

“We also need more of the community to support us – donate, volunteer, adopt, and attend our fund-raisers. Be responsible pet owners, spay and neuter your pets, and commit to them for life,” Ms Burrows said.

• The Grand Bahama Humane Society was among the charities that the family of Sir Jack Hayward requested that donations be made towards instead of flowers for his funeral.