24/10/2022
No More A Tropical Paradise
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This message is sponsored by a group of Tourists and Travel Agents from the USA, Canada and the UK who vacation in Barbados frequently and refer the island to many of our clients. However, over the last few months, we have witnessed the most horrific forms of animal abuse in Barbados…dogs and cats abandoned daily, and found in extremely deteriorated condition; owners willfully watching their pets starve, keeping them in the worse imaginable filth and chained 24/7 with no recreation; animals infested with ticks/fleas, becoming ill and dying from treatable diseases; live kittens being thrown out in a plastic bag from a moving vehicle; animals being drowned, hung, poisoned, attacked, hit by traffic; puppies, kittens, and pregnant animals being thrown out like trash all about the island; The stories are all over social media, photos above are from REAL Barbados circumstances and we have taken a firm stand NOT to return to Barbados OR refer clients, until ANIMAL CRUELTY is addressed. Barbados is currently experiencing animal overpopulation, lack of an effective neutering program, ignorance of fair treatment to animals, and a lack of empathy for animals as living, breathing, feeling creatures. Some social media comments state that this is ‘your culture’ but if this is any nation’s culture, to willfully be cruel to their animals, then we will NOT be supporting you. The Government needs to implement a massive spay/neuter program targeting rural areas on the island AND an educational program promoting kind/fair treatment to animals; they need to enforce penalties for animal abuse, and have readily available hotlines and agencies, where animal abuse can be reported, and actioned immediately. Citizens need to feel that their government appreciates these serious issues and will TAKE ACTION - no more empty promises. You can change individuals, families, communities, the entire island and Barbados can be the trailblazer, setting the example for all other islands. The overcrowded animal shelters and private rescuers there, are repetitively asking for government intervention as they struggle tirelessly to contend with the constant emergency animal situations that are the most horrendous we have witnessed globally. Kindhearted, caring, tourists can’t accept that animals will continue to suffer with no intercession from Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has been named among Time Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2022. When tourists see ZR drivers swerve to purposely hit a helpless innocent dog and bajan passengers in the van laugh about it, tourists are instantly perturbed and vow never to return to Barbados. Tourists love animals and consider them family, so the inhumane treatment we see on your island is shocking. Please be as proactive as you were with covid-19: that was so impressively amazing and amendments to laws were implemented very quickly. Until YOU, the Barbados Government, make crucial and instantaneous reform to your animal welfare policies, you will lose many tourists who have now become exposed to the repulsions of your island, no longer viewed as a beautiful tropical paradise but a haven for animal brutality.
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