Obsessed by the dumped puppies, from last week, I made a date with Criollo Trappers, to try track this poor mama dog down and fix her, so she won’t have the same situation again, in a few months.
I thought I had that dog’s address, but it was a false lead. Apparently, the pickup truck whose driver dumped the puppies was purchased by a certain still-to-be-identified Ricardo R. Dirksz, but he provided a bogus address on the sale receipt. Dead end.
But since I was traveling with Jacqueline in St Nicholas, the land of endless stray dogs, we lingered for a while and trapped two females, who then took a courtesy ride to the vet’s office, for a life changing operation in the morning.
Jacquline is a volunteer with the trappers. She got into it last year, when the mass spaying and neutering operation took place, and she stayed. She already volunteers with the donkey sanctuary and with Turtugaruba, Criollo Trappers fit in nicely.
So in turtle nesting season, she walked about 7 km every two days scouring the sandy beaches of Rincon and Grape Field for turtle tracks, then she monitors the hatching, in charge of the nests on that side of the island.
In between she spends long patient hours waiting for street dogs to please enter the trap, following the scent of food, she cleverly leaves behind.
Donkey, Dogs, Turtles, it’s all in a day’s work.
I told her, her place in heaven is guaranteed.
Jacqueline has been on the island for a few decades. She is the wife of a practicing family physician and she enjoyed a career, a cross between education and nursing, before retiring. With her kids grown, the animal kingdom and its urgent needs took center stage.
We were at the De Vuyst residential area in St. Nicholas. Parked on a crossing, with the neighborhood kids as our audience. The adults are always away at work, there were only kids around us, watching suspiciously but patiently from there porches. ‘She will be coming back,’ said Jacqueline to whoever cared to listen. The puppy she was trying to lure into the trap will be brought back neutered, ‘and she will no longer be able to have puppies,’ Jacqueline explained, into the air. The kids were unimpressed. They were not sorry to see the black puppy go, they were not thrilled about the news of her return. They were sitting around, nothing to do, waiting to become grown up.
Later at another neighborhood Jacqueline put out a trap for a female she knew, a friendly girl, a fence jumper. She looked well fed, no ticks, but as her nipples were slightly engorged, Jacqueline could see the puppy factory was switched on, and wanted to get her fixed before they came.
That took patient. The dog wasn’t hungry. But she was curious. She played hard to get but Jacqueline did not lose hope. She was persistent.
Finally we left San Nicholas with two dogs, a black puppy, homeless, available for adoption, cute, and an owned stray that will be going back to its home.
They were petrified in the car, frozen, terror in their eyes, but I knew they would have a great life as stays, if they cannot procreate.
Kudos to Criollo Trappers. They need our support. Leave some money at their MIKO account at Contreras Vets, or make a direct deposit at Aruba Bank 26.0552.0190.
If you really have big bucks and a big heart go down to De Vuyst and offer the kids some after-school activities and adult guidance and supervision. But that is a horse of a different color.
