I never thought that I would say that, but after a few years of zero kill policy, in view of our current situation, I say bring back select culling.
The authorities and the local rescue organizations held a meeting this week, in which it was announced that the DOG LAW, enacted a number of years ago, will now be enforced. The meeting at the MFA Santa Cruz was well attended, and included the presence of police chief Ramon Arnhem.
One of the stipulations of the much touted dog law, is that dogs/cats cannot be roaming the streets but if owned must be fenced in, which was not enforced before, but apparently will now be policed by the men in blue.
I asked some of my friends who attended the meeting if the forum discussed fines. She said, yes, but was unable to repeat a clear policy to me.
Historically, a Kill cage, adjacent to the Animal Sheler, was used to drop unwanted animals off and a government employee was tasked with the unpleasant chore of injecting a fully conscious animal with a euthanasia drug directly into the heart chamber or body cavity. That practice drew a lot on criticism and in some countries with humane laws for animal handling is considered a criminal offense.
But that was Aruba’s preferred method of dealing with unwanted animals.
In a sane world, when we put our aging or ailing pets down, they are heavily sedated first, then an intravenous drug is administered which takes a few minutes but is totally peaceful and acceptable everywhere.
It costs money, first the sedation then the intravenous injection, and the authorities here for many years just opted for the shot to the heart, as a cheaper method.
I believe it was the Veterinary Service who was in charge of culling animals left in the kill cage, and with time, less and less of its employees agreed to perform the nasty job, until the service ran out of hands.
As I said, the preferred method attracted a lot of criticism, and the rescue organizations, showed up early each morning to try spare a few lives, fundraise, and ship them out for adoption, overseas.
There must be an economic model for this, but I don’t want to go into it, though some vets I spoke to, hint, it might be an enterprise.
Following the public outrage, the Kill Cage was reinvented as the CCC, a kind of community resource; it changed its name but not its designation. People still dropped unwanted animals, and no amount of convincing helped that. The small facility is now overrun by animals, and employees are frustrated.
I am told, that with all rescue facilities, all shelters are full. We’ve reached a point of total saturation.
The government offered to build another shelter for 80 dogs and 40 cats. Please note, it will be filled in one day. Then what?
While the island has easily accessible spaying and neutering services, the locals are still lax about their duties as responsible pet owners.
We made very little progress.
Perhaps it is time to introduce humane euthanasia, the two phase process, sedation first, then an intravenous drug.
We ran out of space, and though the Veterinary Services bucks, it doesn’t want to store/dispense the substance, my friends report we have no other options.
