Raining cats and dogs

The phrase "raining cats and dogs" is used as a metaphor to refer to very large, plentiful drops of rain falling from the sky; however, for the purpose of this article, I am using it to describe the seemingly never-ending "flood" of animals in need of help in Tobago. I’ve written about them many times and will continue to do so, to bring awareness to their plight.

Almost daily I receive calls from people who see suffering or endangered animals and who are (for various reasons) unable to help them.

About two Sundays ago a bike-tour participant contacted me requesting help for a young cat he had spotted while cycling. The cat’s back legs appeared to have been crushed and it was dragging itself along the gravel road leading to the meat shop on Golden Grove Road.

Given how serious the injury sounded, euthanasia seemed to be the most humane option.

Calls to different veterinarians went unanswered (probably as it was late on Sunday afternoon). How long had the cat been suffering? How many people had seen it, yet thought nothing of helping? What could be done now to put this animal out of its misery swiftly?

As darkness was falling, a friend accompanied me in search of the young cat. Within seconds of arriving at the reported spot, he appeared, quickly dragging himself towards us, crying – not out of pain as much as (it seemed) from a desire for help. We picked him up and placed him in a cat crate lined with towels. His paws instantly started kneading his soft "bedding," in the way that cats do when purring and repeatedly pressing against the mother cat’s nipples during feeding.

His level of trust, comfort and desire for love made the thought of ending his life (albeit humanely) all the more heartbreaking.

A call to the animal shelter’s emergency number was answered by one of the vets, who agreed to meet us at the veterinary clinic to perform the emergency euthanasia.

Lovey, as we named him en route, showed no sign of being in pain. He rapidly propelled himself across the clinic’s metal table, as though excited to explore his new environment. Within minutes of receiving the injection, he slumped into a deep slumber from which he never woke.

The next day another cyclist called me after sighting a young dog with a piece of wire tied around its neck, cutting into oozing flesh.

As often happens, someone had probably tied the wire around the dog’s neck when it was younger and it had grown into and beyond its "collar." When not rescued in time, dogs in similar situations die through slow, painful strangulation, infection or of maggot-infested wounds caused by tight wire or cloth cutting into the flesh of the neck.

How can people see a dog in such a condition and not feel the need to loosen or remove its "collar" before the point of strangulation?

When it rains it pours. The next day, someone called to inform me of an "aggressive" black mother dog on the grounds of a hotel.

Her perceived "aggression" was more likely ‘protection’. She was a nursing mother who would bark or rush at anyone passing near the bush where her pups seemed to be.

A fellow animal-rescuer and I began taking turns feeding her daily to gain her trust. Our plan was to catch her and board her and her pups until adoption.

However, a few days into our "plan of action." the dog was nowhere to be found. Near to where she used to be seen, I found an empty sardine tin, which immediately aroused our suspicions. Poisoned sardines in tins are commonly used to "get rid of" dogs in Tobago.

When days passed and she did not reappear, we believed our suspicions to be confirmed...until the morning that I decided to check “just in case.” There she was, somewhat skinnier, but wagging her tail, allowing me to stroke her head for an extended period.

We are hopeful that her story will have a happy ending.

The animals-in-need-of-help calls I receive almost daily can get overwhelming at times, but they are a drop in the bottomless bucket of calls received in total by all animal rescuers and shelters throughout TT.

In the world of animal rescue it is always raining cats and dogs. We need many more "umbrellas."