No justice for Toro

NATASHA NUNEZ

I’VE ALWAYS been a friend to stray animals. Most of my pets – cats and dogs – have been formerly homeless. I’ve assisted in the rescue and rehoming of strays. I’ve openly encouraged the #adoptdontshop approach to pet ownership. But it took the horrific mauling of my own nine-year-old neutered male cat (himself a stray when I found him as a kitten) by two stray dogs to make me aware of the urgent need for stricter regulation and more accessible services for the control of stray animals.

I had seen the two dogs at least twice before, on the prowl at night up and down my street in Diamond Vale. I was only mildly concerned as the sandy brown, healthy-looking, medium-sized dogs seemed to be engaging in more playful than aggressive behaviour.

But the hounds I saw in the wee hours of Sunday morning, playing a gruesome tug-of-war with my cat and then bounding effortlessly over my neighbour’s front wall when I shouted at them, were not in any way playful. The pair displayed pack hunting aggression in their actions, even stopping to look back at me when they had got some distance away from the house.

After dealing with the trauma of trying to save my dying cat, taking him to the vet (who thankfully answered my call at 3 am) and receiving the news of his passing hours later, I resolved to find the “owners” of these dogs.

I immediately turned to members of my community for help but my pleas for information were loudly ignored, both on WhatsApp and Facebook groups. I made a report via the TTPS app and was told the matter is a civil one between myself and the dogs’ owner, whom I am yet to meet in person.

As fate would have it, my husband, Garth St Clair, on his morning walk the next day, spotted both dogs lounging outside a house a mere street away from our own. He took pictures and video, confirming that the house where they “lived” allowed them unrestricted access in and out a rusty front gate that ca’’t be closed.

Watching the video and driving by the house later that day, I noted that even if the gate was fixed the athletic animals could easily scale the front wall to get out if they wanted to.

I submitted the video and images to the officer on the TTPS app who further advised I make a report to the West End Police Station, which I did on Monday afternoon.

The sergeant I met promised to visit the home and speak with the owner, proclaiming “there are laws against having dogs roam like that,” and promising to call me with an update that afternoon. Suffice it to say I have not received a phone call to date and my follow-up calls have been dead-ends.

When presented with the laws by an animal activist to boost my police report, I revised the Summary Offenses Act to learn that under Chap 11:02, Confinement of Animals, “every animal shall...be confined by its owner” and “the fact that an animal is found off the premises of its owner shall be prima facie evidence that an offence...has been committed by the owner of such animal.”

I subsequently got more information from someone living closer to the dogs that one of them is, in fact, a stray they’d been feeding, confirming my understanding that the laws governing the containment of stray animals are woefully inadequate. I won’t even mention the paltry fine upon conviction for this offence, which is less than half of the vet bill I paid that Sunday morning.

I also learned that the Port of Spain Corporation operates a pound, but is it different from the TTSPCA? Who knows? The reply to my messages to the society is discouraging. “You need to find out if the dogs are owned or not. They look too healthy to be strays. There are no dog-catching services in Diego Martin.”

A lot to unpack there but the salient questions remain: What does a person do if they notice a stray animal and don’t have the means to take it to a shelter that is above capacity? What should a person do if a stray animal hurts one of their own animals or a person?

There’s no clear-cut answer to either of these and many other questions which is why I am pleading with the Attorney General and Minister of Agriculture to push forward new laws and/or revisit the existing overlapping legislation so that an adequate and responsive system may be developed to curb and manage the stray population. Spay and neuter programmes alone won’t do it. Neither will all the tender-hearted adopters like myself.

Given the frustrations of resolving the matter peacefully, it would be far too easy to poison the dogs and be done with it. That’s just cowardly and inhumane. But I could understand if anyone else in my position would resort to that. I will, however, continue to search for a solution that benefits everyone, even if I don’t get the justice I deserve.

My husband and I are left to mourn a beautiful spirit that chose me and changed my life on one day almost ten years ago on the steps of the Hasely Crawford Stadium.

In loving memory of and search for justice for Toro (2011-2020).