St. Maarten Private Eye

I have been very busy and many days without using the computer, so here is an update on the dumped puppies at the Belair dumpster and contact information for all the animal groups on the island of St.Maarten/St.Martin.
After hearing about the tragic news of the dumped week old puppies in the belair dumpster with a box of trash, Mr. Boykie Mendez called to adopt all six of them.
These puppies are about a week old, some had their eyes open, others not as yet. The puppies have to be bottle fed every 3 hours for a few weeks until they can eat solid food.
Mr.Mendez is the owner of Clean St.Maarten N.V. and a dog lover, he has other adopted dogs he rescued from the landfill our dump, another dumping place for dogs by our people.
I have to offer my greatest thanks to Boykie as his actions proves that we do have some kindhearted persons in our community. The fact is that our people have to learn to sterilize their pets, dogs and cats, males and females.
Indeed if one cannot afford to adopt a pet, and if one is financially strapped and prioritizing right now with the hard economic times, then do not even consider it.
Pets need not only love, but care for their health and well being as well. proper food and vet bills can take a dig into anyone's pocket book.
Sterilization of a dog cost more than $100.- Luckily, most dogs and puppies now offered for adoption at vets are already sterilized or fixed as we like to say in our local parlance.
For people that cannot afford the high cost of a sterilization, Animal Welfare offers vouchers to those who have adopted local designer dogs and coconut retrievers. These vouchers are for owners of local dogs only and one would have to prove that one is financially strapped.
I support ALL the animal protection groups on the island as they play a important role in rescuing animals and helping to educate the islands people how to care and have compassion for animals. I would suggest to visitors and locals who would like to contribute, to help all the groups, as not one is above the rest.
Here is a contact list for all animal protection groups operating on St.Maarten/St.Martin.
*Animal Welfare-President Sue Wathey- number 5208887
*Animal R Friends-President Monique Hofman number 5815289
Ursula Oppikofer-I LOVE MY ISLAND DOG association, Ursula is colorful lady that has a frame shop in Cole Bay and she works with the French side government trying to bring back an animal shelter to the french side.
Her email is Ursula.ok@ool.fr
PAWS on the French side is run by Shelly Crane, an American who is striving tirelessly to have all homeless puppies and kittens adopted, she sends out emails to her contacts and has been successful in having many of our local designer dogs adopted by responsible people in the United States.
Her email is sxmpaws@yahoo.com
The independents: Mercedes de Windt and Elizabeth Reitz, these ladies work very hard in their own time helping the animals by feeding the homeless ones.
Rain or shine, Hurricane or no Hurricane, Elizabeth Reitz drives her truck around the island where she knows every homeless dog and feeds them daily, Elizabeth is a saint for the animals, no buts about this and she has been decorated by the Queen of the Netherlands. Elizabeth does not wait for funding either, she will do it out of her own pocket. Elizabeth can been seen every day feeding the dogs at the dump. A police officer who holds Elizabeth in the highest regard said to me that the landfill dogs know exactly the time she will pass by as they tend to line up in a designated spot awaiting her arrival. Elizabeth can be contacted via any of the Animal foundations.
There are many that are trying their best to help the over population of dogs and cats on the island, I agree with the setting up of an animal shelter, as the vets should not function as long term shelters, I also agree with a mass education of the population, the 2 should go hand in hand.
I believe that education alone will not be the solution, although it is vital. A shelter will also serve to keep our roaming horses, goats, pigs along with our dogs and cats.
As it is right now, we have too many roaming dogs along the roads, we also need a tag law, an animal catcher and a animal vehicle. These roaming sick dogs create an ugly landscape of our island, not exactly what our visitors enjoy seeing when visiting a tropical island, there are too many neighborhoods where they area looks down right shabby because of the sewage running, trash alongside the roads, plastic hanging from trees and roaming sick dogs. I believe in beautification, but beautification should be all inclusive including finding the solutions to fixing the dog population problem.
1.Eduation, 2.Animal Shelter and 3.Tag Laws, animal catcher and animal vehicule.
Please support all the groups that help our animals by donating dog food, educational videos for class rooms, books and other educational items. Money also helps as I know what it is for these groups to operate with minimal funding.

All the best and volunteer in your field of interest.