GBHS seeking to press charges of animal cruelty

By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

Determined to crack down on the number of persons abusing animals, strong attempts are being made by the Grand Bahama Humane Society (GBHS) to have charges brought against the owners of two sick dogs picked up yesterday.

GBHS Managing Director Elizabeth "Tip" Burrows told The Freeport News that someone called in to their office to report that the dogs were roaming the neighbourhood in a residential area off Settler's Way, and appeared to be sick.

"Our animal control officer went out and picked them up and then when we saw the condition of the dogs, we took them to a veterinarian to have him assess them and to get a statement for the police," she said.

The dogs will be examined, cleaned up and treated by the veterinarian before they are released to the GBHS. Burrows said attempts were being made to confirm the name and address of the dogs' owners.

"We're attempting to verify that now, and if we can, then we're going to be asking the police to press charges for animal cruelty. One of the dogs is extremely emaciated in addition to having thousands of ticks and the other one is thin, not as emaciated, but also has an awful lot of ticks," she said.

Burrows said she also learned that the dogs lived in a wooden, homemade, box-type cage most of the time, but when they were let out they wandered around the streets of the neighbourhood.

"We want to bring charges against the owner for allowing them to get in this state. This is neglect and animal cruelty and this needs to stop. I'm afraid if we don't do that, in a few weeks or a few months the same person will end up with more dogs and the same cycle will start up again," she said.

"People like this should not be allowed to own dogs."

The passionate Burrows told reporters the idea that any dog should have to live in such conditions "breaks her heart."

"This makes me sick to my stomach. They can't de-tick themselves, they can't feed themselves, they can't give themselves water," she said.

"Those are the very basic things that any dog is entitled to; to be clean of parasites and to be fed and watered and to not even provide that is beyond my comprehension why someone would want to have dogs."

She noted that in the past when the GBHS had attempted to bring charges against animal owners for cruelty, they did not get very far.

"Unfortunately none of them have gotten past the front desk of the police station and we're really hoping that this can change with this case because until we start showing the public that there are laws to protect these animals, people will continue to treat them badly," she said.

Burrows said she wasn't surprised once she learnt that the dogs in this case were pitbulls, since she said there is a high incidence of abuse among this breed.

"Unfortunately, we see a lot of pitbulls in horrendous conditions, they seem to be abused and mistreated more than any other bred, even more than potcakes," she said.

In spite of their ordeal, Burrows said the two dogs were responding well, wagging their tails and eating out of the hands of the caregivers.

"These are actually very nice dogs. They're not vicious animals, they've just been abused and mistreated horribly. But other than that, they could be lovely dogs and they probably were at one time," she said.

Unfortunately, Burrows said, pitbulls have gotten a bad reputation and are largely feared by members of the public who harbour many misconceptions about the breed.

"This is in large part due to the fact that they've been glorified by rap music and so there seem to be a large number of young men that want to identify with this dog and thinking it's a macho dog to have," she said.

"They can be used for fighting, but this breed of dog is actually more suited as a family pet than as a guard dog, and if they're treated right, they're very friendly dogs."

Burrows said that if a pitbull is found to be aggressive to humans, it's usually because they were mistreated by a human in the past, since that is usually not in their nature.

"Everyone is afraid of them because of their appearance which unfortunately works against them, and then when people crop their ears to make them stand up that makes them look even more ferocious," she said.

"I wish people would stop doing that. That's actually mutilating the dog and I really hate to see that."

For the most part, Burrows said there other breeds of dogs that should be considered more dangerous than pitbulls are. For this reason, she said she would be much more nervous about seeing another type of dog loose than she would a pitbull.

© 2008 The Freeport News