St. Maarten Private Eye

Get real. It's funny we had this discussion on my job yesterday. Most parents can't deal with cost of living so high between GEBE, schol fees ect ect, but animal lovers urge us to adopt a mutt. Sorry, people always say sxm'ners dunno how to prioritize, well most are prioritizing now. Our children and ways of living first, animals somewhere last. Harsh, but the times dictate the actions.

JB

If you read my post properly you would have seen that I did ask that if you did not have the time and love DO NOT ADOPT since our furry friends would end up on the dump again or worse. I should have included "IF YOU CANNOT AFFORD IT"

There are enough people who can afford a furry friend. I feed mines (more than one furry friend) and give them lots of water and love. It is not that costly when you buy the food in bulk, but if you cannot afford it THEN DONT DO IT. For me it is important to share the little I have with my furry friends and other needy people. I dont need the luxery you are seeking. I give love.

I have seen the positive impact our furry friends had on my kids learning to care for them and think of them as part of the family along with the other values I have taught them. Today they are caring loving young adults and have even saved a furry friend in distress.

I will also post on the situation with our next generation while I dont have to tell anyone the fears many have of what is to become of our kids.
Many are great kids, but have it extremely difficult staying focused due to the pressures from extremely bad apples. I am just trying to look at ways to minimize the situation by having small children learn the value of other's lifes and well being.

Just look around you. we have a lot of HARDCORE criminals amongst us who also commit brutal abuse on our furry friends as practice as to what to do unto other human lives (ages as young as 6 and 7) and sadly to say, not all are foreighners as is being make believe to be. They are our own "I born here" kids. The training should start at home with those innocent kids who still can be taught to give love and life rather than to hate and kill.

I dont have to care, since my kids are grown and have their own furry friends, but I do care because we bring them into this world and it is our duty to teach them right from wrong (if we know the difference ourselves).
I am sad to say that I am saddened by your reply in taking other lifes so simple. No one is telling you to, so if you cant afford it just keep it to yourself. Are we going to start here too to shut up people for asking those who can afford it to adopt a furry friend ?????.

I hope you are instilling values and qualities into your children and making sure that they will have a better life than you have now and one day be able to afford a furry friend on their own if they want to, since you surely will not encourage them to do so. WE ARE ALL GOD'S CREATURES.

I will continue my quest to ask those who can afford it and have love for any lifeform to adopt a furry friend wether YOU like it or not.

You try to bash me but get upset because someone else does not agree with your statement.

I do call on you to pray for our furry friends, when I last checked prayer is free, and to ask God to stop people from being so cruel to them. Or is that a problem also ??????

SO ONCE AGAIN, I ASK OF THOSE WHO CAN AFFORD IT AND HAVE THE TIME AND LOVE TO ADOPT A FURRY FRIEND.
If for whatever reason you cannot then simply whisper a prayer for their wellbeing and that someone else might adopt at least one of them.

ADV ;(

We all realize that everyone is in difficult times. If you voted for the current government then you asked for it. Just as those that voted for Bush in the U.,S., but the one quote that summarizes Sint Maarten is a quote from Ghandi " A Nation and it's people are judged by the way they treat their animals", so unfortunately if you have children with your attittude they will most likely grow up being a detrement to society.

You don't now me or my children, so be very careful about personalizing your responses of somone else's opinion. If you want to be swine and roll in the mud, I can get down with the best of them. But please, steer clear of labling my children.

J. Baptiste

Well, of course it is about prioritizing. If you can't afford a dog, do not adopt one. But there are also enough families who can afford it, so they could act. Besides that, SXM'ners should also learn to take a pet only when you have the time and money to take care of it. Again: prioritize!

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.

I am extremely pleased with the update on boykie adopting all six pups. Props to you boykie.

as Jadira pointed out it takes a lot of work and effort by many to selflessly get involved in helping.

In helping our island every factor is important and so is also the well being of our animals. So I do hope that all of us can take a serious look at the situation and one way or another, in our own affordable way, will contribute to help minimizing the stress brought upon these innocent animals by man (humans).

On behalf of my own furry friends I thank all of you who in one way or another take time out of your very busy schedules to care of our island's animals and I will continue helping in any way that I can.

May God continue to bless you all.

ADV ;(