And in case you still don't understand I'm saying do 150 @ $50, 850 @ $20 raise more funds to pay the difference, out of next year's if needs be, Foreign Vets happy, Bahamian Vets happy or in some variation of those numbers is where the solution lies. But make no mistake after you go home, in the hands of happy Bahamian vets is where the fate of these animals lie.

I've read all the posts on this issue barring the few that came in last night and this morning and I know that your actual costs are $20; Their actual costs are $50 to fund their year round charity out of the same pot and if you're still puzzled go to any shop here, you can scream your head of that the actual cost for a t-shirt is 3 for $10 but when you leave your receipt will still say $30 and if you want to take up arms for that then buddy I'm right behind you.

Above all I was routing for a win-win and some flexibility on both sides when I asked the vets if the event can still go on I mean the event that you have all been fighting so doggedly for, you know the one that includes the foreigners. They might discover that they can take $35 instead of $50 but also instead of $20. But if in the end after doing a lot more work to reach an understanding, the event still cannot go on Bahamian Vets, advocates, laypeople, layabouts, it's still OURS to pick up the pieces and carry on.

Ay yay yay! What a damning indictment, you might catch some karma yourself for that one.

Operation Potcake pay the Vets the money $50 x 150 for their three day commitment. I hear you if you say there won't be enough left to run the volume clinic but guarantee it on funds raised on the back end for next year (I assume OP doubles as a fundraising drive for the following year?) If you come upon a year that you're sure won't yield enough to cover the Vets portion and the volume spays and neuters then you cancel, but only after having furthered everyone's charitable dreams of ending animal suffering.

OR

Animal Balance pay them the money up front and fund-raise in the weeks preceding the event to re-coup some but also take from the back end and guarantee your involvement for the next year.

OR

Find a way! Win-win situations are always in the last place we look for them.

@Foreigners - pride, money, and local responsibility are the reasons why the cities from whence you came most likely do not have shambolic records of animal care and problems with strays. So you remember that the next time you want to point such a harsh finger at groups in developing countries that want to do the same.

And stop saying they're free, they're not free, you just haven't given anything. So we love your time, but we need your money. Charities don't run on charity and goodwill, they run on hard work and money. And they don't cure social ills, you get out what you put in.

@Bahamians O-mi-god you sting, people are reluctant to get involved because the negativity is like trying to swim in hot grits and getting the work done is like trying to swim in cold grits. Those Vets you're so quick to demonise have to balance all facets of animal care year-round when animal welfare hasn't quite made it to the list of priorities and there is still even more charitable work to be done and you're calling for their heads without a full understanding of their position (they are suspiciously quiet but I suspect they're taking cover til the bombs stop). You know more than anybody the circumstances concerning animal welfare in this country.

@Vets- if your money, national pride (go Vets!), and charitable responsibility can through negotiations be satisfied can the event take place? If there are still reasons unknown (please don't be xenophobia! #ainnobodygatnotimefodat) why this can't take place then again I say fair enough it is your ball game, but if you didn't know before, you do know now, you are accountable to the public for those reasons, animal welfare is not yours to take home with you when you go.

@Rory - Chinese restaurant has to be the funniest thing I have ever read on this entire site on any post, way to break up the tensions with good ol' fashion smart-assery.

#Piratepartyinthe242 #JonasSalk4eva

It doesn't matter who cancelled, Operation Potcake was at the time of cancellation Animal Balance, and it was cancelled because the negotiations fell through and they fell through because the Vets wanted a piece of the charity pie for THEIR charity work (and I hope at this point this is 100% true because I believed them when they said it) and they fell through after one round because someone, not the Vets (John Doe representing X representing Y if you insist), walked away from the table. At this point I'm sure all the letters (all coming after the negotiations) are rhetoric but if you pick through the 274 comments on the original article you get a clearer picture of how events transpired and you can see the ego on both sides through the words.

IF your penultimate statement is true then I ask the Vets OK now that things have fallen apart and you say you can handle it, what's next? (At this point, the local Vets are still in the equation and the local advocates are still in the equation, and it is still the remit of the Vets; the only people not in the equation is Animal Balance).

IF Animal Balance and you and your supporters feel that all is not lost (because if your last statement is true Animal Balance does not have exclusivity on high volume spays and neuters) then I suggest finding your way back to the negotiating table but please take the sting out of the tail and try not to get the backs of the people who manage the affairs up. There has to be a win-win situation here,

And take care that playing out this drama in the press doesn't undermine the good work that both sides had in mind.

There are always bigger problems...life here reminds me of the parable of the jar with the big rocks inside being full of rocks, but then you put in stones then pebbles, then sand, then water then you get a real understanding of full. People here have a life full of problems, and its hard to imagine a solution being so close only to lose it at the finish line even if it was the smallest in nature. But I say get back to the start quickly and get in the habit of getting over it and moving on and looking for a solution, because that habit is what's going to make us fit to deal with the problems of any size.

It is reasonable, but I can't so readily accept the slaughter of these animals. Do you think it's possible to collect the animals from the high-traffic areas and where packs have been reported to spay OR neuter and then barge them to an uninhabited cay (like the pigs) and then animal welfare groups can tend to their basic needs if they wish? I know scraps of city life is what they subsist on but its clear pragmatists and animal lovers (not mutually exclusive) cannot abide the over-population. Then we can do the best we can and not suffer so much while doing it?

Banker, I feel it the same, we are really exhausted living under a constant threat of harm, I feel it the same the world over, everything seems so precarious all the time and most of us think none of this is my fault, what on earth kind of karma is this! What I wouldn't give for a moment to breathe easy!

I was caught in the sights of an aggressive dog before and I had a stroller in one hand and a toddler in the other, no hands free for a stick and to this day I remember that feeling of looming catastrophe but I don't remember wanting the animal dead. Figuratively speaking if all that is precious to us is at stake there will be a growing number who want to see the animals destroyed humanely, how can we prevent that? What real options do we have? (not rhetorical questions, really hope for answers)

Emma Clifford, animal activists and their supporters please be careful about bringing extraneous circumstances (especially the tourist $) into your arguments because you might find your scaremongering amounts to a bunch of dead dogs, no Vet assistance required! And if you think bellyaching about that to the international community will earn some scorn then you might inadvertently create some support for those actions because no self-respecting capitalist is going to begrudge us any when our 'bread and butter' is at stake and those involved know it but can't get their egos back on a leash. You might well remember that the bulk of your work is getting most people to care enough in the first place! Calm down, back back, and find another way please! For the sake of these poor, discarded animals, calm this powder keg down!

I know the feeling, not only was it optimal, it was so close and I didn't have to pay a thing, and a relationship it seems is over and because most people are unable to let go immediately and say OK what's next, the lamenting turned into a mire. But when the dust settles we will have to figure what's next anyway and I have faith our Vet professionals can figure that out. The silver lining is the expectations have been raised on those that have volunteered to manage this situation and the public has set its 'baseline' for results. So I'm sure if they need the help they will ask for it.