Dedicated to animals

ELSPETH DUNCAN

“Thank God for this organisation,” says Denise Duncan-Solomon of the TTSPCA’s Tobago branch. “Otherwise I don’t know what would happen to some of these animals.”

This mother of three sons is 56 (but looks more like 26), and in June, she’ll celebrate her 27th year as a shelter employee – a year less than the time she has lived in Tobago.

In 1993, when TTSPCA Tobago was under the care of Pam Phillips, Duncan-Solomon’s then husband started working there. As a frequent visitor, Duncan-Solomon became interested in the organisation, applied for a job and was hired as an “animal inspector.” Her job was to care for the animals – cleaning kennels and cages, cooking food, bathing and walking them. She has seen many changes at the shelter over the decades: more staff, more kennels, more hygienic conditions, more adoptions, more interest and technological advancement.

But she still has some visions for improvement: more international recognition and support; ongoing financial assistance from Government, to enable expansion, higher staff salaries and twice-yearly subsidised large-scale spay/neuter programmes; and stipends for volunteers, even though, as she says: “Voluntary work should be of one’s own willingness.”

The seeds of this dedicated woman’s life work with animals were planted in childhood.

“I came from humble beginnings and always liked animals. I remember three pets I told my parents I wanted when I was in primary school: a dog, a horse, a chimpanzee. They used to watch me like I was crazy!

“I had two dogs, given to me by a friend of my mum. We were close. They were my friends.”

Almost every Sunday, too, young Denise, accompanied by neighbours, would make the trek from home (Dibe, Long Circular, St James) to the Emperor Valley Zoo, where she relished seeing the animals. Today, in her daily work life, she more or less tends to a zoo of her own.

“I love the animals here – cooking for them, feeding them, giving them water, interacting with them.

“I build a bond with them. They can’t talk, but they respond in ways that I know what they are saying. Especially the puppies. They know me to a T. The minute I walk through, you will hear them. It’s a riot!”

I can attest to the special bond Duncan-Solomon forms with the pups in her care. On the day I adopted my dog, Venus, as a pup from the shelter, Duncan-Solomon informed me: “I just bathed her for you.” Months later, when Venus accompanied me on a trip to the shelter, she bypassed everyone and headed excitedly for Duncan-Solomon – easily recognising the human friend who had showed her love when she was a puppy in a cage.

Duncan-Solomon has one pet: Whiskers the cat, who is “black and gold with pale yellow eyes.”

“She is like family. My sons and I love her. I got her from the shelter in 2012. She was the only cat in the cattery. Everyone else had been adopted.

“She was meant for me. At the time I just wanted her to hunt mice, but the boys and I bonded with her and got attached.”

Duncan-Solomon has travelled abroad once – as a child, to Grenada, her late mother’s birthplace. She would love to travel the world, especially to New York and Florida, with good reason. Her one sister and two brothers live in those states. She remains close to them despite geographical distance and passing time. Her sister visited Tobago in 2018, but she has not seen her two brothers in decades.

Life in Tobago hasn’t always been good to her. At 8 pm on March 2, 2007, tragedy struck when Duncan-Solomon’s concrete house mysteriously burned to the ground. She and two of her sons were home at the time. “It was a traumatic experience. My 15-year-old son and I were watching TV and the eight-year-old was sleeping.

“We looked up, saw smoke coming from the bedroom and heard my younger son coughing. We ran into the room and pulled him out. The room was on fire, with flames catching curtains and clothes.

“Even though it was a concrete structure it burned so fast. We lost everything.”

The shelter was very generous in her time of need, giving her cleaning supplies, towels, sheets and clothing. Other help came from an organisation called Self Help, and some financial assistance from one of her second son’s schoolteachers.

Duncan-Solomon has managed to find something positive in that catastrophe.

“I was always a compassionate person, but the burning of the house made me more compassionate. I realised in life you can never have too much. As the old people say: ‘What ent meet you, don’t say it pass you.’

“I know someone whose relative recently lost a house to fire. I called people I knew and got things for them. As a fire victim, I know how it feels.”

There have been many challenges in her personal life, and Duncan-Solomon was unable to focus on rebuilding her home. Since the fire, she has lived in rented accommodation – thankfully, within walking distance from work.

But she plans to start building the foundation for a new home soon. “Next month I will be 56, and I want to have my own home before I am 60. I have part of the money to start the foundation."

Anyone interested in assisting Duncan-Solomon in rebuilding her home or donating construction material can contact her at 332-3844.

“I would like God to bless me with financial wealth,” she said. But she added: “Even if I am rich, once I have life and good health, I would still work with animals.”

Duncan-Solomon, a life member of the TTSPCA Tobago, also has a heartfelt wish for animals: that people in Tobago would care more for them.

“Be more compassionate,” she urged. “Stop abandoning animals by the beaches and roadways and in bins. That really hurts me.

“They can’t speak, but they have feelings like we do. They are a creation from God.