Animal Control Officer (Acting) with the Animal Control Centre, Ministry of Health, Peter Belgrave (right), going over some paperwork with Assistant Control Officer, Paul Bellamy, while at a booth in the QEH.
Assistant Control Officer, Paul Bellamy, with the Animal Control Centre, Ministry of Health, assisting persons with having their dogs licensed while at the booth in the QEH.
Get help from authorities rather than abandoning your pets
Animal abandonment continues to be an issue and one member of the Animal Control Centre is urging owners to seek assistance rather than resorting to this practice.
Animal Control Officer (Acting) with the Animal Control Centre, Ministry of Health, Peter Belgrave, stated that members of the public can contact one of this island’s shelters for help.
“There seems to be still a case of persons abandoning animals and we advocate that there are a number of shelters in Barbados. There is The Ark Animal Welfare Society, there is Woodbourne Boarding and Rescue Kennels, there is the Barbados RSPCA and there is us. Don’t abandon the animal.”
He further stated that “if for some reason you are having difficulty with it, whether it be feeding or whether it being that the animal is sick and may need a medical assessment, contact any of these organisations and we will be willing to assist or put you in the right direction so you wouldn’t have to abandon that particular animal”.
Belgrave spoke to The Barbados Advocate at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) yesterday where the Centre carried out its outreach programme for Animal Care and Control Week 2018. At their booth, animal control officers educated the public about the work of the Centre and presented them with literature about caring for their pets. Individuals also had the chance to register and license or renew their dog licence.
Belgrave stated that the outreach programme “has been very impactful".
“Persons are very glad for the opportunity. We are at the hospital [and] hospital staff have been very glad because of their hectic lifestyles, and sometimes the shift which they are working they can’t get to the licensing centres because if they are working, for example, say a seven to three shift, our offices are not going to be opened at that time of the morning and by the time they are on their way back home, the offices are closed. So having a setup at the hospital…, it is an ideal location.”
The Centre’s officers will be at the QEH again today from 9:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. Meanwhile, on Wednesday, they will be at Emerald City Supermarket in St. Philip.