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Consulting
Turks & Caicos Islands - Street Dog Project |
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In 2001, SNAP was asked by the Pegasus Foundation to assist the Turks and Caicos Islands with finding solutions to its stray dog overpopulation. The Turks and Caicos Islands, also known as TCI, are a British Overseas Territory located 575 miles southeast of Miami. TCI is the most populated island of Providenciales. It was estimated that there were as many as 1,000 stray dogs in TCI at the time. Many of these strays were essentially wild animals who had never been socialized with humans. |
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The Problem
There are no vaccination or licensing requirements for dogs or cats living in the Turks & Caicos Islands. |
The TCI island of Providenciales, also known as Provo, had only been commercially developed during the previous 30 years, so the problem of stray dogs was relatively new. Dogs roamed the island in search of food, destroying fragile ecosystems in the process. They ravaged endangered shore birds and their nests, iguanas, and turtles and turtle nests. Island residents reported dog bites and dog damage to personal property. Islanders and visitors alike expressed fear of being chased by dogs or contracting diseases from them. Many tourists reported the wild dogs as a negative feature of vacationing in the Turks and Caicos. The problem was brought to the national and international forefront when a television correspondent was attacked by a dog at a resort. This attack focused the attention of the TCI hotel owners association, local government, and concerned residents on the issue of stray and feral dogs.
While feral dogs attack or threaten resort visitors and threaten the tourism industry, it is not often publicized how these dogs also compromise the lives of the local people. It is hard for most to imagine living in a neighborhood where one is afraid to walk at night for fear of being attacked and afraid during the day of having one’s children bitten. It is hard to comprehend what it is like to have dozens of dogs barking and fighting outside one’s window all night, every night. Tourism is an essential part of the TCI economy, but local residents were just as eager to quickly deal with the problems created by the dogs.
In previous years, the government employed a dog catcher who would trap or dart stray dogs and destroy them. This system failed when fishermen stole traps and the stray dogs became "trap wise." Beginning in 2000, a veterinarian was hired by the government for $100 a day to shoot stray dogs. The veterinarian hunted for stray dogs on the island three days a week, shooting an average of six to eight dogs each trip. Animals running at-large on the airport grounds or the sanitary landfill were fair game and were shot at-will. The operators of many of the resorts on the island also asked the vet to shoot stray populations on their properties. Animals who were not killed instantly by gunfire suffered long and agonizing deaths. Besides the danger posed to humans by accidental shooting, dead dogs were left where they are shot to decompose, creating additional environmental and health concerns.
When a hotel was threatened with a serious lawsuit from a tourist who was bitten by a wild dog, and one airline refused to land there until the dogs were eliminated from the airstrip, the government turned to the only program that looked like an immediate solution to the problem: introduction of Canine Distemper to eradicate the dogs. Canine Distemper is an indiscriminate virus that can affect companion animals as well as stray or feral animals. Dogs infected with distemper display red, runny eyes and nasal discharge. In later stages of the disease, they often collapse in the streets as vomiting, fever, and diarrhea develop, followed by various disorders of the nervous system. This disease takes time to carry out its cycle in infected dogs and the virus, once introduced to an island, can never be eradicated or managed.
While the introduction of Canine Distemper would have eliminated stray dogs, the immense animal suffering endured and the possibility of cross-contamination into other species caused international outrage. With funding from the Pegasus Foundation and a collaboration with Global Wildlife Resources, SNAP assembled a team to assess the stray dog problem and propose to the government alternative, humane solutions that centered around education and prevention. |
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The Project Solution
SNAP and Global Wildlife Resources (GWR) traveled to Provo during the summer of 2001 to assess the situation and develop a proposed solution to present to the Turks and Caicos government. The resulting proposal recommended a multi-faceted approach to humanely ending dog overpopulation. The SNAP/GWR proposal combined community outreach and education activities; humane trapping and euthanasia of wild, aggressive dogs; a trap/neuter/release program for community dogs; and a free sterilization program for owned animals. The plan incorporated the efforts of the Turks and Caicos Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which operates various programs that include spay/neuter, humane education, and foster and adoption of dogs.
SNAP’s primary responsibility under the proposal was a month-long spay/neuter clinic, which would involve bringing to Provo veterinary teams skilled in high volume, high quality spay-neuter surgery. The teams would consist of one veterinarian and two animal health technicians, each brought to the island for a week at a time during a four-week period. Each team would perform approximately 150 surgeries each week, resulting in a total of 600 spay/neuter surgeries being completed during the month. Volunteers on the island would support the medical team. Two existing private veterinary clinics on the island would serve as facilities for spay-neuter clinic surgeries. All surgery suites would be sterile and veterinarians would have the right to refuse to perform any surgery for any health reason. |
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The Program
To encourage dog guardianship, free dog collars were distributed to identify dogs connected with people. | Many of SNAP’s recommendations were included in the government-funded program that resulted from the initial consultation project. In mid- November 2001, a team of animal handling experts traveled to Providenciales for one month to kick off the stray dog control program. Participating organizations included the Turks and Caicos SPCA, Global Wildlife Resources, the Humane Society International/Humane Society of the United States, and the Pegasus Foundation. The resulting program improved the lives of both people and animals.
The team conducted public education every day through media interviews, school visits, community presentations, and informal interactions with people they encountered in the community. Team members handed out free dog collars so that island residents could identify their own dogs. As collared animals were shuttled to and from the veterinarians for sterilization, it was the first time the people witnessed their government acknowledging and caring for their dogs.
An entirely new capture method was designed: the colony capture pen. Animal handling and euthanasia of strays was conducted with calmness, respect, and care. Both children and adults embraced the methods and actions. Feral dogs responded remarkably well to the capture pens, casually walking in and out as the pens lay idle, and often responding to their capture by eating the table scraps which had baited them in.
In less than three weeks, a total of 362 free-ranging dogs were captured. Sixty of these dogs were collared and transported to and from the veterinarian for
sterilization. Children applauded as animals were returned. During this period, the Turks and Caicos SPCA publicized their free spay-neuter program, leading to an additional 112 dogs being sterilized. Three hundred of the captured free-ranging dogs were uncollared and presumed feral, thus they were euthanized. Dogs transmit skin diseases to the children, cause property damage, and kill family dogs. While regretable, euthanasia was an important tool on Providenciales for providing immediate relief to pain and suffering. |
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The Outcome
The cultural change in animal stewardship and improvement in people’s lives continued beyond the first month kickoff phase of the program. The Turks and Caicos SPCA trained animal control officers to continue the capture of free-ranging dogs. The TCSPCA also provides the following services to the community:
Distribution of free dog collars: More than 1200 free dog collars have been distributed in Provo so that any dog with a connection to people will have a collar.
Any dogs caught in the capture program with collars are spayed or neutered and returned to the location where they were caught.
Free Spay/Neuter: When dogs with guardians are collared, the TCSPCA goes into neighborhoods to collect them for spay/neuter, takes them to the vet for surgery, and return them with information on caring for dogs. During the first 14 months of the program, the TCSPCA spayed or neutered nearly 500 dogs belonging to island residents.
Educational Outreach: The TCSPCA has developed an educational curriculum for both primary and secondary schools focusing on responsible animal care. All public and private schools on Provo have been visited by TCSPCA volunteer educators.
Fostering/Adoption: The TCSPCA has fostered and found homes for more than 100 animals since late 2001. The TCSPCA has 10 foster homes who take in animals of all kinds sometimes for a month or more until adoption homes can be found. The SPCA has also arranged for animals to be transported to adoption homes internationally.
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