Article on Dead Dog Beach by WSPA
WSPA is the World Society for the Protection of Animals.
A Dog’s Life at Puerto Rico’s Dead Dog Beach
By CONTACT _Con-3F64BBC21 \c \s \l Alejandra Zuniga, WSPA
At first, it seems like any tropical beach, complete with palm trees, white sand and blue sea. But, as soon as you spot two dog skulls scattered on the ground, you realize that this is not the paradise it appears to be.
Welcome to Playa Lucía, also known as Dead Dog Beach, located in the outskirts of the Puerto Rican town of Yabucoa, about 80 miles southeast of the capital, San Juan.
This particular beach has become a place where people abandon their mixed breed dogs --known in Puerto Rico as “satos”-- when they no longer want or can afford to keep them. On average, five dogs are left to die at Playa Lucía every week, and that number rises during the summer and Christmas season.
According to local resident, Sandra Cintron, owners show up late at night and dump their pets when they think no one is watching.
“They leave them here to die, sometimes they even bring puppies. When I come in the mornings to feed the dogs, I can tell which are the newcomers because they seem so disoriented and lost,” she said.
These abandoned dogs suffer and die from starvation, dehydration and car accidents. But extreme cruelty is also present at Dead Dog Beach. Local men often throw bottles or rocks at the animals or shoot them with air rifles to amuse themselves. Some even make try to run them over with their motorcycles and ATVs.
“There is a law in Puerto Rico that prohibits animal cruelty,” says Cintron. “But people don’t pay much attention to it, they just do not care, they have become desensitized to the plight of these dogs.”
Cintron, a native of Yabucoa, has been coming to Dead Dog Beach since 2001 to check up on the satos. A casual outing to the beach six years ago left her saddened by what she saw, so out of her own pocket she has returned every day to feed them. She also buries the ones that do not survive.
This young woman knows some of the approximately 40 dogs that inhabit the beach and its surroundings. Most arrive at the beach beaten, hurt, and limping. Mara, for example, is a nearly blind female sato that was abandoned along with her five puppies.
These dogs roam not only the beachfront, but also the abandoned lots around it, the buildings of an oil company located at one end of the beach, and the grounds of a nearby hotel.
According to Cintron, it is well known that the hotel owners poison the animals: “They say they don’t do it, but it is too much of a coincidence that every holiday and every time the hotel is fully occupied, the number of poisoned dogs rises.”
Cintron has helped World Society for the Protection of Animals Member Society, Amigos de los Animales (Friends of the Animals), in their efforts to rescue dogs from Playa Lucia and provide them with nurturing homes.
“We started to organize this project and work with other organizations and individuals in September 2006. Since then, we have taken around 160 dogs off the beach: 140 have been given homes and 20 have died for different reasons”, said Elizabeth Kracht, from Amigos de los Animales.
The rescued satos are nursed to health at local shelters and private homes and later are adopted mostly by American families in New Jersey and Florida. Spay and neuter efforts have also taken place in the beach, the latest one in February 2007.
Both Kracht and Cintron agree that the solution to the Dead Dog Beach problem consists of both enforcing the law and educating people about animal welfare. “We desperately need a spay and neuter campaign and to work with the community in a positive way,” says Kracht.
According to WSPA’s regional Veterinary Officer, Dr. Monica List, who visited Dead Dog Beach last year, education is the missing link in this scenario.
“Dogs and cats will be dumped at Dead Dog Beach as long as responsible pet ownership culture is not instated.”
#
Author’s note: Amigos de los Animales is one of many WSPA Member Societies working to help satos in Puerto Rico. For more information about WSPA’s efforts to help stray dogs around the world, visit: HYPERLINK "http://www.wspa-usa.org" www.wspa-usa.org
posted by Ginny at 7:53 AM
13 Comments:
Ginny and Sandra,
Shame on you for accusing us of poisoning dogs. We like dogs too, but your organization was told by the mayor of Yabucoa that he would contribute $1000/month if you would start a shelter. Have you done that?
It sounds like you are going to vaccinate and spay these dogs and send them back to the beach. It sounds like you will be compounding the problem not solving it.
At the above meeting with the mayor you agreed not to feed the dogs in front of the hotels because sick, stray animals are a danger to our guests. We have no problem with you feeding the dogs on the other end of the beach away from tourists. We are finding dog food on a regular basis on the hotel end of the beach. You are creating a problem.
"Dead Dog Beach" may a very catchy title to raise money for your cause, but you are hurting a first year hotel business. Many new businesses fail in the first 2 years and your campaign is threatening our business. I will be consulting our lawyer on Monday.
Jeanette Pollard
Jeanette, I’m glad you took the time to post your comments. I have addressed them individually as best I could. I recognize that this is a very different type of issue for you than it is for me and I truly and trying to be as sensitive as possible while still working for the best interests of the animals.
The evidence may be circumstantial but it is very clear. There is a ring of poisoned dogs surrounding a tight radius of the hotels at Playa Lucia that can’t be ignored. It is common practice in Puerto Rico for business owners and private individuals to poison animals in order to keep them away from their establishments. We are only putting “two and two together”, as they say. In addition, we have testimonies of individuals who currently work at the hotel who have seen the poisonings occur! The evidence is there and we are only doing what we can to stop the continuing violence toward these innocent animals.
We were and are very appreciative of the Mayor’s generous offer to help with running a temporary shelter in Yabucoa. I think you imagine the difficulty in finding suitable accommodations for these animals. So far, no one offering a house for rent has taken us up on the offer to house 20-30 dogs and cats in their house. I guess the possibilities of urine in their tile floors, holes dug in the backyard, and barking that disturbs the neighbors has been the deterrent. We have contacted numerous leasing agents in the area and scour the newspapers constantly for a building that work be amenable to the animals as well as to the general public of the City. Gilberto, the Mayor’s assistant, has told me he’s looking for perhaps an industrial-type building that would be available but so far, no one has had any luck.
The second issue to address concerning a shelter is that, honestly, it is not our (individual citizens) responsibilities to obtain and maintain an animal shelter – it is the government’s responsibility whether at the city, municipal, or state level. Individuals in Puerto Rico and elsewhere saw the deplorable conditions under which animals are treated in many areas and have been working to help in whatever way we can. We just do not have the manpower or financial means to wholly administer a shelter facility. Manos por Patas is 1 person – me – and I have a demanding full-time job in Florida. One thousand dollars is very generous but is nowhere near the amount that would be required per month to operate a facility.
We collected 18 dogs from the beach. Twelve of them are coming to the states for adoption and the remaining six will be returned to the beach. These six are completely feral and had to be caught using sedatives and catch poles (and there were still significant injuries to the rescuers). These animals have been so abused by humans and have lived at the beach in fear and pain for so long that they are truly no longer domesticated. What we did was not to compound the problem at all but rather to reduce future populations of animals that are continually born at the beach. These animals are not adoptable and do not deserve to be killed so the only viable alternative was TNR (trap, neuter, release). This is a common practice in animal control that works towards significantly reducing future populations of animals.
As an added mention, the surgeries and adoptions for these 18 animals will cost over $2,000. This money comes from the pockets of people who truly care for the animals. They/We expend tremendous amounts of money – money that we should not have to spend.
We do not feed the dogs in front of the hotel. All of us at the meeting with you and others last February promised not to do so and we haven’t. There is one woman, not involved with Manos por Patas, who has not complied with your – or our – wishes on this issue. We have pleaded with her not to do so but she continues to and there is nothing I/we can do about that. You may consider too that many of the guests that come to your facility may also be feeding the animals. For example, when we were there in February, there was a couple visiting from Maine and staying at Palmas de Lucia hotel. I happened to run into them on the beach and they told me all about how wonderful their trip had been to Puerto Rico and in the Yabucoa area but that it had all been essentially ruined by seeing all the animals is such horrible conditions. They said they would never return to Puerto Rico and would warn all of their friends about the situation as well. These very kind people actually went so far as to take one of the dogs from the hotel area and pay to have him treated by a local veterinarian and flown to be with them in Maine. I’m sure that many tourists go at least as far as buying dog food to give these poor animals. If the animals were not being so mistreated in the first place, the tourists would not do this and you would have return business.
We are not creating a problem. The problem was there and we are trying to solve it. We should not HAVE to be put in this situation.
We did not name the beach, the locals did. When I first started coming to Yabucoa for work two years ago I learned that this is what that area was called by people in the area. If “Dead Dog Beach” did not exist, we would have no need for a “catchy title” at all.
This is exactly why we were so hopeful that you and Sr. Lopez would come “on board” and try to truly help in the problem. Your paradors could be advertised as “dog friendly” and you could get new and return business by working toward a positive change for the situation in which these animals are forced to live. You were not willing to do this. You offered only to purchase a live trap with which to catch dogs. This trap would have to be manned continually when set and the animal caught would have to be dealt with. As I said above, we have neither the manpower nor the financial means to do this. This “solution” expends minimal energy on your part and places the whole of the burden on the rescuers who are only trying to save lives and minimize pain.
Dear Ginny:
I have been following the Yabucoa issue for quite some time. I agree with your last posting. But there is one thing that completely distraught me. You say that you collected 18 dogs from the beach. Twelve of them are coming to the US for adoption and the remaining six will be returned to the beach. Because those six are completely feral and cannot be domesticated.
I think that returning them to the beach shouldn't be an option either. If you yourself said, and I quote: "These animals have been so abused by humans and have lived at the beach in fear and pain for so long that they are truly no longer domesticated."
Why would you return them to the beach? If a good quality of life cannot be given to these creatures, why wouldn't you sacrifice them? I know this is not fair for the animals, but neither is being constantly abused, poisoned or be living in constant fear, and I also know it is a very difficult decision to make, I understand. But we cannot be selfish and must choose the lesser of two evils. I honestly think it will be better FOR THE ANIMALS to put then to sleep than to have them live in constant fear which is no way for a being to live.
No, Mrs. Pollarrd, with all due respect, you're wrong. Rescuers are not contributing to the problem by spaying/neutering and vaccinating the dogs: PEOPLE are contributing to the problem by abandoning and killing animals; the GOVERNMENT is contributing
to the problem by not doing anything, although there are "laws" against animal cruelty; and finally, YOU are contributing to the problem because you're just complaining about losing
MONEY. From your reaction, most likely you have something to do with the poisoning or
you know who's doing it but you say nothing because it's convenient to you. and you know
what?--that's against the LAW.
Ivelisse Martinez
I also travel to Yabucoa often. It is difficult and disheartening for me to see all the suffering on the beach and in the streets. Dogs and cats everywhere in terrible condition. I have tried to help by finding homes for a few of the dogs but the it seems so futile as it is an endless task. The number of dogs dumped is huge and it is a community problem. The few that are helping know it is a thankless effort but one that is done truly from the heart. My last visit to Yabucoa I needed a room to stay at. I have seen ATV's chase down dogs on the beach by Playa Lucia and have smelled dead animals around the hotel. I wanted to stay at the hotel but could not patronize an organization whose community involvement in this issue is nil. I stayed at the Sheraton in Palma. What the few volunteers have done is more than the locals do around there. The sign of a civilized community shows in how they treat all living creatures.
It is terribly depressing what goes on there and PR is practically the 51st state.
In response to the comments about returning dogs to the beach: I know it doesn't seem to make sense but we just don't know what else to do. It isn't fair to kill them because selfish, irresponsible humans will not do anything to help them. And they are just too feral for adoption. The rescuers at the beach take good care of the dogs so they will be fed, we just have to hope that soon some modicum of decency will take over in Puerto Rico and these animals will not be targeted for the inhumanity that persists now.
And we are hoping that soon we will have a "beach dogs hotel" somewhere either in Puerto Rico or the states where the older, feral and/or otherwise unadoptable can live out their lives in safety.
No one involved in the recues is feeding the dogs near the hotels. There are other people doing that, and most of them are *guests of the hotels*. They love animals so much that they feel that they have to go out of their way to buy a bag of food to feed them and spend some time with them. If these people are not coming back—like someone said in a previous post—it’s because they have witnessesed animal cruelty first hand in that area.
If you, hotel owners think that your bussiness is in danger it’s not because of the dogs or the rescuers—it’s because visitors don’t like how the animals are treated there. So don’t go blaming us for that because it’s basically your fault. You people had the opportunity to do something *possitive* and you blew it because you just care about the *money*.
Sandra
Some of the dogs that were returned to the beach are *unadoptable* because they fear people and don’t want their company. They seem happier living by themselves and they are no threat to people in any way. They are being fed and treated for mange and parasites once a month.
Sandra
With all due respect Ginny, but:
1. It's not fair for them to live in constant fear either or end up dead due to poisoning or torture.
2. Wouldn't you rather give them a pinless death than have them get killed by being tortured or being poisoned?
3. It seems that you're putting your feelings before the animals. If it were me, I'd rather get emotionally hurt than have them get physically hurt, than having they suffer so I don't have to suffer making the horrible decision of sacrificing them.
At the end, unfortunately, they are going to die in that horrible place. You have the power right now to choose how, either a painless way, or leaving them there taking all the risks, living in constant fear and suffering.
I know it's not fair for them, I agree, but if they are going to be living in constant fear and suffering a horrible death, it's better to give them the lesser of two evil which is giving them a peaceful death.
People have to pay for their errors. I don't think the animals have to be punished for what people do.
The real problem is making people stop abandoning their pets. Because even if the dogs are "put to sleep" or conveniently disposed of by the heartless bussinessmen of the area, in 2 weeks you will have 30 or 40 more. I don't really see the point in punishing the victims--why not punish the people responsible for the cruelty? There are laws that are supposed to prevent that but they are not being enforced. I think all the community has to work together with the government to make a possitive change.
Thanks, Ginny, for your thorough and thoughtful reply to my concerns. I have lived on this beach for 5 years walking the entire stretch of beach most mornings for the first 3 years while we waited for permits to build our hotel.
You are right about truly feral dogs. I know of one family of dogs that lives by us who are into the 5th and 6th generation, The matriarch was a puppy when we moved here. She is tan with a very white muzzle now and teats that hang to the ground. This family of dogs are rarely seen because they are feral. They hunt by night and sleep by day. They cause absolutely no problems for humans nor do humans cause them any problems.
It is the sad pets that followed me down the beach waiting for any sign of attention that tear at my heart. They are wanting human companionship and care. These are the abandoned pets who grew too big for a small apartment or too sick to watch die. What is it about us humans? That we think a pet can live at the beach and survive? These are the dogs that need rescued, but some truly are so sick, so mangy, so ugly that no one would adopt them. These are the dogs that are euthanized in every dog pound and SPCA shelter in the US. It was the main way the US got control of its dog problem. In the 50's dog owners did not leash their dogs in the country. Dogs found running loose were sent to the pound and most were euthanized. Over the years dog owners learned to take better care of their pets through education, legislation, and money spent on animal control. Now we have developed to the point that people campaign for animal rights.
PR has a long way to go. I reiterate my offer to live trap dogs so you can vaccinate, rehabilitate and adopt them out. I have little time, I have no money to help you feed, neuter or fly them to the states, but I live right here and can humanely catch them and turn them over to you. If you can stimulate interest in a shelter or in funding the animal control regions PR would be on its way to being a developed country with respect to its animals.
I reiterate. I do not poison dogs. It would better to work together than to work against each other.
Jeanette
PS Open letter to those who feed in front of the hotels. You are compounding the problem. We have seen as many as 20 dogs following your car. Those 20 dogs do not stay where they are not fed. Scabies, hookworm, dog bites are just some of the diseases that dogs pass to humans. This is a serious public health issue.
Please, lets be real. Right now, the animals are suffering, and the people abandoning animals, torturing animals, putting poison to the animals are living their lives and they are not paying for what they are doing, the animals are.
I belive things will get better eventually, but not right now. In the meantime, the animals at the beach will suffer greatly.
One more time, the thing is to choose the lesser of two evils. Which is it? Is it dying poisoned or tortured? or having someone euthanise you with no pain at all?
Post a Comment
<< Home