EDUCATION/OUTREACH

Adult education is an important part of our work, for example, recently a training course was conducted at the Jamaica Constabulary Force. We also offer free training to schools and specialized institutions such as the Alpha Boys Home.

In 2004 we educated 2,000 students ranging from 5 to 21 years of age, in subjects such as what are the protected species in Jamaica, what constitutes abuse, how to care for your animals, and common illnesses in dogs and cats.

On an average, four to eight schools are visited each month, and student numbers vary from 30 to 100 per group. This programme is ongoing. Visits are usually made in response to requests from schools, or as part of a specific wide-reaching programme, for instance, when a spay-neuter clinic was held in Port Royal, a visit was made to the Port Royal All-Age School.

SPAY AND NEUTER

Walk a block along any of Kingston’s streets and you will see at least a dozen dogs, some dragging an injured limb, some with sores or burns or open knife wounds, females with their teats almost to the ground from bearing so many litters, all dirty, all frightened and all emaciated, some to the point of literal starvation.

A dog comes on heat every six months, and litters can number up to ten or eleven, but even taking an average of six, one female can produce twelve offspring in a year.  Of those let us say half are female, so those six can produce another twelve puppies each in a year.   That gives us a total of at least eighty four puppies in two years, all from one bitch.  If you have three bitches, they could be responsible for creating nearly 300 new lives, and we haven’t taken into account the offspring that the male dogs will go out and sire.  In fact, they are in such plentiful supply that young gunmen use them for target practice so they can hone their shooting skills.

Think how many times you see dead dogs on the street, run over by cars or buses.  Aside from getting themselves killed, they often cause fatal traffic accidents, with motorists, usually driving too fast, either swerving to avoid them, or sometimes swerving to hit them.  

Often a street dog will attach himself to anyone who shows a tiny bit of kindness, perhaps throwing a chewed-up bone or a piece of stale bread - or maybe he was just the rare individual who did not kick at him while passing.  Their loyalty in cases like these is pathetic, they follow blindly because they have nowhere else to go, no other hope.   Mostly, though, they cower in corners in an attempt to avoid the constant abuse that is part of their daily existence.  And they wait quietly for death, either quickly under the wheels of a car, or gradually, as they succumb to disease, septic wounds or simple starvation.

All this should not be happening.  There are far too many dogs in Jamaica, and though we cannot expect to cut the stray overpopulation down to zero, dog owners can nonetheless perform a valuable social service by preventing their dogs from reproducing.

Spaying a female dog – this involves removing the uterus just as in the human hysterectomy, except that a healthy dog can return to normal much sooner than we can.   The usual precautions have to be taken, keeping her quiet for some days to ensure that the stitches do not break, but once removed there are no after-effects, and the dog will actually be grateful to you for saving her from the gruelling process of reproducing and feeding babies every few months.   There are additional benefits to spaying small breeds, as they are more susceptible to uterine infections.

Neutering a male dog – this involves making a small incision to remove the testicles, and over time the bag which was holding them dries away completely.   Stitches come out after a little over a week, and the dog returns to his normal life.  Most male dogs lose their desire altogether, although a small number can still feel the urge.  A neutered male dog can, in fact, go through the mating process with a female, but as there is no sperm, there is no resulting pregnancy.  Neutering does not diminish the dog’s strength or capacity in any way, or change his character, and the additional benefit here is that most neutered dogs will not be bothered to go out and get into a fight over a bitch in heat.

There is normally a small charge for these procedures, but this is compensated for by the obvious continued wellbeing of the animal, and the fact that you will not have dozens of puppies running around your yard every few months.

In addition to performing these operations, the JSPCA holds regular spay-neuter clinics in low-income neighbourhoods, which offer less privileged owners many advantages.

ANIMAL REMOVAL

The JSPCA is often asked to remove unwanted animals from public or private areas which can be anywhere in Jamaica.  This is a heartbreaking job, because animals who have been left to reproduce indiscriminately and forage for themselves have usually become feral and are not good candidates for adoption, and this means they have to be euthanized.  One of our goals is to create a situation where this is no longer called for, hence the emphasis on spaying and neutering, which will keep the animal population at acceptable levels.