By Vonardo Corbin on Monday, 9 May, 2022 at 10:34 PM

The Barbados RSPCA is concerned about the number of people who are turning in their animals as it is creating a greater financial burden on the facility.

 Chief Inspector at the Barbados RSPCA, Wayne Norville, revealed that such instances have increased since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Right now we have a situation in the island where there are a number of people out of work who now find themselves in a position where they can’t look after the animals so they would turn them in. Some people would actually let them go which is wrong” he stated.

Norville added that this causes a number of problems for other people such as animals going through garbage. In addition, stray animals are likely to be injured or killed on major roads and highways.

He says that this is where individuals would call the RSPCA to pick up the animals to prevent them from being hurt.

“We end up during the peak period of Covid, we were always around 200 dogs in the RSPCA looking for homes, and some of these were some of the same people who contracted Covid. We rescued the dogs from their homes because they went into centres, there was nobody to look after the dog”, he explained.

Norville said that a major challenge followed after these people were released from Covid-19 treatment facilities.

“But obviously you would have to pay not to get the dog back, but to help us for what we would have done in terms of housing your dog, feeding your dog, cleaning your dog, and keeping it safe until you came back out”.

He said that many people would have been in a position where they felt that they could no longer afford the animals, and left them at the RSPCA.

“We are left with a situation where we are spending something over ten thousand dollars feeding dogs every month”, he explained. 

He urged Barbadians not to abandon their dogs and to go through the necessary channels to get assistance with them.

Norville believes that dogs should be microchipped. “Microchipping is important as it can save your dog. If your dog is lost and somebody finds it, once they turn it in to one of the agencies, one of the vets would most likely have a reader and the chip would relay all the information, your name, address, telephone number, everything about the dog.” he stressed.

 “I find a lot of people don’t want to microchip the dogs because then they are made more responsible, but it is the right of the government to make sure that you microchip your dog”, he lamented.

He believes that pet owners need to be held more accountable for their animals, and thinks that stiff penalties should be put in place to ensure this.