By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS Humane Society president Kim Aranha said tourists are “disheartened” by the stray dog population they encounter in The Bahamas.

“Some of the tourists end up writing to us and saying, ‘I saw a black dog on this beach, etc, ‘here’s a picture’, and we end up catching it and sending it to the States to them,” she said yesterday. “That happens time and time again. Tourists are heartbroken when they come here and see the stray population, and they want to help.”

Ms Aranha said many dogs that roam the beaches have owners who fail to keep them on their property.

“I need to point out that our stray population isn’t as stray as we think,” she said. “A lot of those ‘strays’ are actually owned dogs who people feed, but they leave their gates open, and the dogs come down to the beach for the day, and they go back home at the end of the day.”

Ms Aranha said her organisation helps people fence their yards and meet the challenge of keeping their dogs on their property. She said during the last Operation Potcake campaign to spay or neuter animals, 2,253 animals were spayed or neutered over eight days.

She urged the public to report animal abuse and called on the church to help in the fight against animal cruelty.

“A major problem is that nobody wants to report their neighbour; they are afraid to,” she said. “But even when we go in and we find a dog who is chained up, or their collar is too small and the skin’s grown over the collar and they’re emaciated and they’re dehydrated, it’s very difficult to get these people charged. It’s very difficult to have them see their day in court. It’s very difficult to send them to jail or have them pay fines. I can’t remember the last successful one we had.”

“The church could help us enormously. I think it’s time they join the crusade of being kind to God’s creatures. Some of these people who are doing what I’m talking about go to church every Sunday. What is it they are not listening to?”

While Ms Aranha said she would meet government officials soon to discuss some of the issues her organisation faces, she said not enough is being done to enforce laws that protect animals.

“There is so many things government could do,” she said. “If we could just enforce some of the laws, if we could enforce the cruelty laws, if we could enforce breeding control, things would improve. The Animal Protection and Control Act has all of these provisions in there, but we are not getting the support we need.”