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Local Items: Action against dangerous or roaming dogs
Bonaire Talk: Local Items: Archives: Archives - 2008: Action against dangerous or roaming dogs
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harrie Cox (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #475) on Friday, March 28, 2008 - 8:14 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

We made an action plan to solve the problem of the dangerous or roaming dogs on Bonaire.
This must be seen as a concept, put together of lots of bits and pieces, we heard from people involved.
We want to give this plan to the local authorities, to suggest possible solutions. They have to decide what to do, but we will keep an observing eye upon their actions.

I tried to make a website to collect signatures from people that support us. I wasn’t successful, (I’m not an Internet-freak).
People who want to support us, and not living on Bonaire, are kindly invited to send an e-mail to: bondogs1@yahoo.com. Please put in the subject-field the text: “Yes, I support" or "NO, I don’t support". Write in the e-mail your real name, address and telephone-number, if any over-active official wants to check the truth of the list. The list of e-mails will be handed to the Gezaghebber, together with the detailed action-plan and the other collected signatures. If you live on the island, please call (00599) 796 9979, to make an appointment where you can sign. The details collected in this way will not be used anywhere else.

Thank you for supporting us.

Meta, Aad, Carmelita & Harrie

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harrie Cox (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #476) on Friday, March 28, 2008 - 8:17 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Action against dangerous or roaming dogs. Concept 2008-03-28

What goal do we want to reach with this action?

We want to make it possible for residents and visitors to walk or ride on the streets of Bonaire, without being molested by (herds) of roaming dogs, and to prevent attacks by aggressive dogs against innocent people on the public streets.

The action plan.
1. All dogs, having an owner must be registered, a yearly dog-tax must be paid, for which payment a dog-tag is given, and must be worn by the dog on a collar. Such a system was in place on Bonaire in the past. It applies for all dogs whether they come onto public roads or not. To be considered must be the possibility of implantation of the more modern ID-chip as perhaps more useful than the dog-tag, because it is susceptible to fraud.
2. All dogs have to be on leash, when on public roads / places.
3. Dogs (with or without dog-tag) roaming unleashed on public roads will be collected, and put in quarantine. The owner of any tagged dog will be traced and can collect the dog, by paying the costs associated with catching and quarantine. Dogs without the dog-tag, can be adopted if the animal-shelter feels they are well suited for this. If the animal-shelter is getting full, the not collected dogs, as with dogs that are not placeable will be put to sleep by injection.
4. Dogs that have attacked a human being on public road (with or without dog-tag) will be killed immediately. Could be by means of an injection, but if the situation warrants, by means of a police-bullet. In our opinion this also should apply to dogs that attack, injure or kill another big animal (donkey, goat, etc.). These dogs are undoubtedly dangerous.
5. An intensive stimulated sterilization-program will be put in place, to prevent that these dogs multiply as wild animals in the future.
6. A list must be made of all dog-breeds to be considered as “very dangerous". These dangerous dogs will not be allowed to be imported to Bonaire. Breeding with these dangerous dogs will not be allowed, male as well as female animals will be sterilized. Doing this, the problem of really dangerous dogs will be resolved.
7. One or more dog control officials must be hired, who will check the observance of the rules, and prevent fraud. In cases of fraud brisk penalties will be inflicted.
8. An education program must be in place for the youth on all schools, in different levels. Here they will learn how to handle pets, and what the consequences are when you don’t handle them consciousnessly. Perhaps an education program should also be developed for grown-ups, in the media.

People with lowest incomes will have special reduced tariffs; second and third and more dogs will be more expensive. Sterilization will be encouraged by reduction on dog-tax.

We do have a detailed version of this action plan including a calculation of expenses, (only in Dutch), that is available for interested persons.

We look forward to the day when all residents and visitors will again be able to enjoy walking or riding bicycles on our beautiful island without fear.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Vince DePietro (Bellevue Condos ) (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1408) on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 5:44 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Excellent work Harrie! I have signed up & support your actions.
A dog lover from way back..

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #9886) on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 10:05 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'm also with you Harrie.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Antony Bond (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #303) on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 4:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Harrie.

In the UK. we had a "Dog Licence" for many years. The actuality was that only the responsible owners paid while the others did not. Implementing the licence and pursuing non-payers was so expensive that it was not cost effective. Result? The licence scheme was abolished.

There are a 1001 things that need addressing on Bonaire to make the lives of locals better including a better pension scheme for the elderly, welfare payments for the unemployed, better medical facilities, redevelopment and investment for Rincon, educational facilities for the schools, public transport infrastructure, etc etc.

Some of the proposals that you suggest are very good and, in an ideal world with an unlimited budget would be worth implementing.

I am not being a dog in the manger (no pun intended) I am being a realist. The amount of attacks on the public is negligible and there would be no justification for spending the amount of money needed to implement your proposals.

Antony (Still without the "H")

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Danny D (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #4) on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 5:56 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I also support all of your efforts. I am also a dog lover, however if a person owns a dog he/she has a responsibility to protect the animal as well securing it so that it will cause no harm. Hopefully your efforts will at least protect the public, natives of Bonaire as well as tourists, from harm.
Thank you for not giving up and for being persistent.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harrie Cox (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #478) on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 6:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Antony,

Since we were searching publicity, we have had an enormous number of contacts, and I am sure the problem is absolutely not negligible, I think we had some 50 cases of injuries, the last 5 years, that were told to us. Yes, "hearsay". And, remember, if one child would have been killed, the rules would already have been made. Do we have to wait for that moment?
Also nearly all people we spoke agree with us, it is getting worse.
There is a dog-catcher on the island, in function, but he does gardening, because his car is broken. Isn't that an easy-to-solve problem?
And do you know of all the goat-keepers, complaining all the time about getting their goats killed?

Please, my wife, and her friend passed by on being killed on a distance of 2 to 3 mm from their arteries.
The amounts of attacks on public is NOT negligible. The fact that police doesn't have figures is because they don't make reports, not because there are no incidents. The doctor told me he sees injuries from dogs, several times a week......... And where does all that money for curing come from?

Harrie

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brigitte Kley - Coco Palm Garden (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #727) on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 6:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Antony, the dog tag fees should be enough to pay at least one dog catcher ... and the other problems you mentioned are all in discussion and will be adressed with The Netherlands when the BES islands become a community of island - as it looks like the 15th of December 2008

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Meryl Virga (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5238) on Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 8:46 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Our homeowner's insurance actually asks what kind of animals we own. They want to know if there are any exotic pets...and charge more if you have dogs that are considered dangerous (pitbulls, dobermans, rottweilers...etc. )
The laws or "rules" you are trying to establish on Bonaire will both help the people and the animals. There will always be a jerk that mistreats an animal...but it should be brought to the public's attention.
I WANT to believe that people care. Keep up the good work...!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill LaBarge (BonaireTalker - Post #68) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 9:51 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Harrie
I am an owner of a wonderful dog. Each day I take her to a "leash free" park. The park has it's minor problems. One of them being "leash aggression". One of the blessing of the park is that dogs are allowed to socialize and being off leash tends to reduce the aggressiveness of some dogs and the "pack" controls the behavior. That being said. In all the good work you are doing perhaps you could propose a place where folks who interact more with their pets and want to socialized to other dogs, would have a place to go.
Been going to Bonaire for a long time. I don't see a leash law happening, but I do encourage you to pursue those who can't control violent dogs.

I'm a runner and I've run for years on Bonaire and have never been attacked. You now have me worried. I will run with less confidence this year.

I wish you good luck with this issue...

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3128) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 10:55 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Who determines which street dogs are dangerous?? There is one at a location that several residents care for. She is loose and is kind and docile. She has a litter of her own and is nursing another litter she has taken care of (14 pups I recall). If she is taken by LVV in the proposed round up (See the recent Amigo) how does this help?? There are lovely street dogs who are not a nuisance. There are many barrio dogs walking near their homes that are not dangerous. Now, more dogs will live a life of hell chained or innocent dogs will be euthanized because TWO OWNED VICIOUS DOGS attacked people.

I empathize with Carmelita and the boy who were attacked. Those dogs should be euthanized. ANYONE who trains their dogs to attack and then the dog gets out, well they SHOULD pay for the medical care and the euthanization.

Rounding up the street dogs is not the answer IMHO

:-(

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By John Smith (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #5) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 11:25 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

It seems kind of obvious but.... sue the b!@#!@ds

There has to be a provision under Dutch or Antillean Law to recovery damages from those inflicting injury to you as a result of their negligence. I do not live on the island but have a residence there and a consultation with an attorney seems in order here.

In the US the single greatest source of lawsuits is dog bites!! The insurance companies in my state have a simple rule. One bite and either the dog or the insurance goes.

Until one forces the owner to be held financially accountable for their actions all the licensing and bureaucracy will achieve nothing. Just the sheer hassle and expense of fighting a lawsuit is going to produce a real reality check for those exposing the public to irresponsible danger. Particularly if several lawsuits can be filed at the same time.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Bill LaBarge (BonaireTalker - Post #69) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 11:26 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I have to agree Ann. As noted I've run for years in the Belnam area. Used to run with Andre to Rincon and back yes Andre and he could run.... I've never been attacked but I know it can happen. I think the problem dogs need to be dealt with and the good ones left to their island life of leisure.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Randy P (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #766) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 11:35 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Hi Harrie,

Your plan covers all the issues needing attention. Congratulations to you for taking the lead on this important issue, both for residents AND prospective tourists.

My first visit to Bonaire whilst riding about on my little rental scooter I averted dog attacks on a numbers of occasions by knowing how to time my accellerations against their attack angle. Same as I do here in the States when motorcycling.

I am not a vet but it is my position that there is NO such thing as a 'safe' stray dog. ANY can become ill, injured, previously attacked itself, in pain, frightened or protective and attack another animal or a person without warning.

I hope you get the much needed support from the Bonaire agencies and politicians involved

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By April (BonaireTalker - Post #79) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 12:26 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I have to agree with Ann and Bill. Killing all the stray dogs will not solve the problem of bad owners harboring attack dogs. While Randy noted, there is no such thing as a safe stray dog ... there is no such thing as a safe person either. People are the ones who created the dog biting problem. Problems are best solved when you get to the source.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tribs, Bonaire Bound in May (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5663) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 1:49 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I'm with the "dog" side too. No such thing as bad dogs, just bad people who abuse them. And the US side of this is not accurate either. Majority of dog bites come from little dogs, not big dogs. It is the US media that blows that one out of proportion. Also, some insurance companies, mine included, give an "alarm" discount if you own a big dog. We qualified with Shepherd/Husky/Rot mix, who never bit anyone because he was well taken care of.

I fear a round up will take many innocent dogs, not too mention that most roundups focus on large dogs - regardless of docility. What of the sweet dog that accidently gets out once? Should it be killed? Or, the family pet that gets let loose by the kids on accident? Should it be picked up and killed? Proposing to round up and kill all loose dogs is inhumane. Come on....don't lose your common sense because you are dealing with animals.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Glen Reem (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2746) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 6:36 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Ann,

How about the animal shelter for these dogs????

There they would be cared for, the pups placed in homes and the mother sterilized and placed.

Euthanizing or the street are not the only options on Bonaire.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By April (BonaireTalker - Post #80) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 7:13 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Big dogs definitely get a bad rap, not fair to them. I knew a family with 6 rottweilers who were the most gentle creatures and I totally trusted them. The only dog that ever bit me aggressively was a standard poodle that attacked me ... when I was a child, visiting a friend.

Unfortunately, no animal shelter is big enough to shelter all the strays that result from irresponsible people who let their animals breed freely and then turn the "extras" loose onto society ... thus, the free roaming dogs (and cats).

Just as with anything, when you ban something (guns, certain type of dogs, etc) ... the good people lose their rights. But all the bad people still have what was banned. You have to deal with the bad people, not the object.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Meryl Virga (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5241) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 7:39 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

There has to be a happy medium. I don't think dogs should roam..at least not someone's pet.
If a dog bites someone...I am not sure if the dog should be put down right away.
Sometimes people can prevoke the dog..or the dog is just scared.
The dogs that attacked these women were not provoked or scared.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jake Richter - NetTech/Bonaire Insider (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #6268) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 8:40 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

To the folks who are on the "dog" side of things, please keep in mind that you are looking at this from an American dog-owner perspective, where most Americans actually respect and care for their animals, and treat them as family members (as do we with our three dogs).

Sadly, we witness daily that the attitude of some of Bonaire's residents towards their animals is rather different. These are good people in general, but the cultural differences are significant, as dogs are treated as chattel in many cases, and not valued family members.

For example, my kids had a music teacher - a very religious, devout woman - whose dog had puppies. She did not feed the mother dog any extra food, and ultimately had dead puppies in her yard, and when we pointed this out to her, she responded that it was not her problem, but her dog's. That freaked us out, but we have seen this sort of attitude time and time again - there's a huge cultural gap between how we as Americans treat our pets and how pets are treated in different cultures, Bonaire included.

While Harrie's plan may seem extreme, it really is not unreasonable conceptually on Bonaire. Implementation may be a different thing entirely.

I know that in the 10+ years we have lived on Bonaire they had dog tags one of those years, that's all. We check back every so often to see if they have reinstituted them, and not surprisingly, we get a chuckle from the guy behind the window at the tax receiver's office when we ask.

Harrie, you have my support, for whatever that's worth.

Jake

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By April (BonaireTalker - Post #81) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 9:10 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Sadly, there are plenty of Americans who do not treat their animals right either ... otherwise there would not be a need for the ASPCA and HSUS.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harrie Cox (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #480) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 9:19 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I have some (positive and negative) additions and remarks.

First, please read the action plan we made carefully. Everybody is focussing on one of the 8 points, the killing of roaming dogs, without owner. There are seven (7) more points to consider. As I see it, this is a well-thought plan, and all the components should be fulfilled. Perhaps even more. The stories we heard the last week are more about bites from roaming dogs, then from dogs with an owner, although these threads started with bites from a dog with an owner.

The animal shelter will not have/get the possibilities to give all of the 2.500 to 5.000 roaming dogs of the island a pleasant life either. The sterilization part of the action plan will take care of the future, the education part takes care of the "bad" people, that caused this. The dog tag part takes care of preventing that beloved pets that escaped once get killed. And prevents people of having a big number of dogs, where they cannot spend enough time to educate them. The banning of "very dangerous dogs" takes care of preventing those dogs of being bred with. So really, see the action plan in total, not pick one detail out of it. Yes, to make Bonaire more safe a good quantity of the roaming dogs will have to be put to sleep. Do you want to have your child or wife bitten by such a dog? I don't think so. I see what these women go through.....

An update:

The ladies: Carmelita's wounds have opened again, she is bleeding since thursday again (not much, but still). She is very sad and afraid, crying a lot, doesn't sleep much, and has terrible nightmares. Walking is still not easy. Collecting the signatures is stopped and postponed to the future. Meta is doing better, for the moment.

The dog that caused all of this, was in the animal shelter. Nobody had the guts to go in his cage, he was barking all the time. His owners came to take care of him in the shelter. He is not in the shelter anymore now. I don't know what happened. Put to sleep or back to owners. I hope we'll hear that tomorrow. If he is back to the owners this must be seen as proof that some people have more rights then others.

The animal shelter announced that their sterilization-plan will be done for free from now on. They ask a donation, but if you don't want to pay, it is OK too. They have a booth at the market when there are cruise-ships in town, and seem to get quite some donations. Well-done folks!

And finally, the government issued a press report that within two weeks the dogcatcher will be in full function again. They warn everybody to keep dogs inside the property, only allowed outside accompanied by the owner. I don't know this press report was issued because of our actions, as reason they say that dogs attack and kill goats, and also have attacked humans shortly. In principal this is re-establishing what we had years ago. Actually I think this is a very rough reaction, and I hope I get the possibility to explain to the Gezaghebber that you cannot put one of the actions in place, and forget about the other 7 actions we proposed.

We have had quite some reactions on the special e-mail address over this weekend, but it could always be more. (See the first post of this thread for more information).

That's it, for now.

Harrie

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Randy P (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #767) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 10:00 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

"No such thing as bad dogs, just bad people who abuse them"

Meaning no disrespect.....but......

While that may be a compelling theory and create an interesting discussion over a glass of wine, I think the delicate distinction 'could' perchance be lost on the person whose body parts were in the process of being gnawed off?

I could of course as always be mistaken.

Fight the good fight Harrie, I wish you great success.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tribs, Bonaire Bound in May (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5670) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 10:11 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

So now we have moved from bite to attack dogs to body parts being gnawed off? Unbelievable. This is better than the US media!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mickey McCarthy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #561) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 10:12 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Well Harrie
Congratulations for what you accomplished so far. I initially felt that you were aiming too high and might generate much opposition in the community. At this point it seems as though the incidents that you have brought to light have had a positive effect on the possibility of enforcement to some degree at least. I don't think anyone can guarantee what any dog will do anymore than they can guarantee what a human will do.
I hope your ladies come along OK now.
Mick

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Randy P (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #768) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 10:42 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Poetic license aside, that was my point, confusingly made it would seem to some readers.

If you are being attacked by an animal, I submit for your consideration that your thoughts are not going to revolve around how the animal was raised, whether it has a warm place to sleep or if it enjoys a 'happy' existence. You ARE going to be focused with laser clarity on the notion of escaping its jaws and making it go away with whatever means is at your disposal. If you are still able you will then seek prompt medical attention.

I make a concerted effort not to anthropomorphise animals. They are NOT furry children, nor are they to be givien priority over humans with whom they interact....they ARE animals and they tend to do animal things.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Mickey McCarthy (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #564) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 11:01 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

AMEN Randy!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Tribs, Bonaire Bound in May (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #5671) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 11:08 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

You may not anthropomorphise animals, but you are anthropocentric. Humans are the problem here, not the animals. Whereas there may be a few animals that cannot be resocialized, it takes a trained individual to decipher which ones are and are not able to be placed. Go ahead and round up all of them, take their lives if that makes you feel better. However, another group will just replace them because the problem - humans - has not been solved. Until the human part of the equation is addressed, you will have to kill and kill and kill. That is a nasty cycle to begin. Why not begin elsewhere, like with adult education and enforced laws? Then people might not be so apt to let their pets run free - yes, a lot of the "street" dogs are pets. In fact, didn't this whole thing start with someone's dog - an animal owned by an individual and now the proposal is to round up all of the loose dogs???? You round up now and begin the killing, you will not solve anything. In fact, you may compound the issue as people react negatively to having their property destroyed.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Harrie Cox (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #481) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 11:18 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Please, please, please, read our Action Plan. 8 points, one of them killing the dogs that are too much on the roads, all the other points about education (not of dogs, but of children and grow-ups), preventing overpopulation in the future. A system to prevent killing of dogs that are "owned". You cannot talk about one thing, and forget the others. All the points have to be started together.....

Harrie

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Randy P (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #769) on Sunday, March 30, 2008 - 11:18 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I am PROUD to be a lifelong member of P.E.T.A. (People Eating Tasty Animals)

I refuse to defer my humanity to any creature that in some cultures is a food group.

My heart bleeds for the victims of animal (and for that matter, human) attacks. It does NOT bleed for the attackers.

Yes the people SHOULD be the controlling factor, but the immediate need is for the threat to be contained. ANY dog that attacks a human should be put down, swiftly and economically. Then proper laws, enforcement and education are also in the mix -as well as putting strays down - in an effort to affect a cultural change. But protecting PEOPLE is the priority in my personal opinion.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Ann Phelan - www.bonairecaribbean.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3131) on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 6:55 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Harrie, your plan has merit in many areas but the systematic eradication of all street dogs is pure BS. So many innocent kind docile creatures will be killed in this 2 week sweep. I am sick about it. I know many street dogs who are at various stores and businesses. They greet me with a wag and enjoy a treat. Many are owned as well but the owners do not have collars.

In my own "hood" there are about 10 dogs loose in the street in front of their houses or walking about. I feel sad knowing some of them will be killed during this sweep.

I cannot read about this anymore as I find it all too upsetting. The attack was by TRAINED ATTACK DOGS NOT STREET DOGS.


I do agree the street dogs that run in packs and attack goats and people need to be removed.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Alex Brown (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #267) on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 8:41 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Whichever side of this issue you are on, a donation to the Bonaire Animal Shelter's sterilization fund will help.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Walt III - www.RecTekScuba.com (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #386) on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 3:32 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

I certainly hope we are not revisiting the wild west of 15 years ago when the control was 2 guys in a pick up, one driving, one blasting away with a shotgun from the back bed. Or the guy in back was jumping out chasing a dog between houses then blasting away. They were piss poor shots at that as it usually took them several rounds to put a dog down.

Felt the need to put concrete between them and me several times. Also pulled the dogs into the house (we have a walled in yard, concrete) when ever they were around just in case.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Brian back in Dear Old Blighty (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #3715) on Monday, March 31, 2008 - 7:12 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

When we were in Bonaire last week, there was a really nice, friendly female street dog hanging out near Mona Lisa. We fed her twice, and also saw a Dutch lady feeding her. We think she may have recently had puppies. She is a beautiful dog (medium sized, tan in colour with amber eyes and very tame) - and the thought of her being killed in the 'sweep' mentioned by Ann is heartbreaking. Is there any way somebody could find her and take her (and if they can be found the puppies) to the shelter? We did think about this but because of there being puppies involved and we couldn't find them we didn't pursue this option while we were there.

We understand and empathise with the victims of these recent dog attacks, but to tar every apparently unattended dog with the same brush seems very unfair.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Amanda Gaston (New BonaireTalk Poster - Post #7) on Sunday, June 1, 2008 - 8:10 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

I agree with most of your plan. Education and sterilization and the two most pressing issues in my opinion. Everybody- get any dog you care about sterilized.

The one point I strongly disagree about it the banning of certain breeds. Any dog can be made vicious, and any breed of dog can be sweet and docile when treated appropriately. The dog that attacked the women was a Labrador Retriever- a breed known to be sweet and good with children. The breed has nothing to do with the attacking- it is all about treatment. Chaining a dog up is the fastest way to make it crazy and vicious. I recently had an experience with a beautiful purebred German Shepherd. He was literally insane, spinning in circles and knocking his food dish around constantly. He had been kept on a short chain most of his life. When he got loose from his chain, he attacked a dog savagely, and later tried to attack shelter workers. German Shepherds are known for obedience, intelligence, their ability to work as guide dogs and police dogs. It is not the breed, it is the treatment.

I think chaining dogs should be either banned or regulated. A dog on a 15 foot chain may have a decent life. A dog on a 5 foot chain would be better off with a swift death to end its suffering.

Instead of banning the importation of certain breeds, perhaps just prohibit the importation of sexually intact dogs? We certainly don't need any more dogs producing any more puppies. If you don't believe me go see the scads of puppies awaiting homes at the shelter.

 


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