The animal rescue organisation, Venus Doggess of Love (VDOL), is once again putting on a Spay/Neuter event in Tobago. This year it will be held at a comfortable setting at the Magdalena Grand Beach & Golf Resort. The manager there is very open to the idea of controlling the stray animal life (mainly cats) in a humane way. Much of the animal care costs will be sponsored by For Animals Inc (based in the USA) and facilitated by the Worldwide Rural Assistance Program. Volunteers are welcome!
The TTSPCA also do low-cost drives from time to time, but it’s not enough. Vet services are very expensive ($600 – $1,000) to do this surgery on the island. As a result, some people choose to dump their pet rather than find that money to stop their dog or cat from continually having litters.
VDOL is a charity founded by Elspeth Duncan in 2014, and incorporated as an NGO in 2019. The organisation focuses on outreach to Tobago’s underprivileged animals to spread kindness and love to our four-legged friends. These include mainly homeless and abandoned dogs and cats and, on many occasions, those from low income-earning households who may suffer on account of their owners’ inability to care for them. Much of the work involves finding homes for these abandoned or mistreated animals. Other successful animal rescue and release cases have included fruit bats, laughing gulls and pelicans.
It is obvious that there are too many stray animals around. Something has to be done since this is also impacting on the image that Tobago presents to its visitors. VDOL advocates managing the stray population in a humane way by controlling their ability to reproduce. The last time that I volunteered for the Venus VDOL event to spay or neuter cats and dogs in Tobago was in 2022. These photos are from that and a previous event.
Dr Raymond Deonanan (Worldwide Rural Assistance Program), an experienced high-volume vet from Trinidad, offers his services and that of his surgical team as often as possible to address the problem. He facilitated at two spay/neuter events in Tobago in 2022, one in July and the other in November. Both events were under-utilised and it seems that more education on the benefits of the exercise is required for Tobagonians.
I helped out with the registration of the animals as they came into the temporary clinic set up in a disused cabana at the Mt. Irvine Bay Resort. It was quite a production line. We identified and weighed the animal, ensured the paperwork was completed with a signed indemnity, and passed it to the vet area. There they anaesthetised the cat or dog and the vet swiftly did the necessary. The animal was then passed to a recovery room where ‘nurses’ monitored it, all done in loving way. Once ready, we were told to contact the owner to collect their pet. I was surprised at how quickly these bundles of fur were up and ready to carry on as if nothing had happened to them.
The stray cats are a whole different matter. Their hideouts are easy to identify – anywhere near a hotel or restaurant where they have easy access to food. While some proprietors consider them a nuisance, others consider them a blessing since they are proficient at catching rats and other vermin, including snakes. Again, the best way to control their population is by spay/neutering. Maintaining a healthy colony keeps away other cats since they are territorial animals. Therefore, VDOL has been targeting the capture of feral cats with the use of traps baited with sardine.
I spent several hours on two different evenings keeping an eye on a number of traps set close to where we knew cats inhabited. But these ferals are smart, or was it the bad weather? Sadly, I caught none, though other trappers were more successful at other sites. We were short on volunteers with pickups to transport the captured cats to the clinic, so it was possibly just as well that we were not overwhelmed with unhappy, trapped pussy cats.
This year’s spay/neuter event will take place from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th of September. There will be an extra focus on spaying or neutering the many feral cats in Tobago Plantations. I wish the team and volunteers every success in this important animal care cause.
Anyone from either Trinidad or Tobago who wishes to volunteer can contact Elspeth on the VDOL Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/VenusDoggessOfLove/) , or WhatsApp her on 786-2539. No calls please, to ensure a better response. Volunteers with cars are especially welcome to help with transport. VDOL has arranged a special deal for volunteers to stay at the Blue Horizon Garden Resort in Mt. Irvine for TT$1,360 for 4 days for a studio that sleeps 1-3 people.
