PETITION CLOSED
PETITION TARGET: The Prime Minister of Dominica
UPDATE: While the eviction was sadly still carried out, SNAR has obtained land on which to construct a new shelter. Lady Freethinker is funding the majority of this shelter, which will allow these animals to finally have a permanent home and live healthy, happy lives.
Burned. Poisoned. Starved. Mutilated with machetes. Dog and cat victims of gruesome abuse in Dominica will have nowhere to go for livesaving care if the island’s only animal shelter is evicted as planned.
The St. Nicholas Animal Rescue (SNAR) rescues animals who have been severely abused – like Dumbo, who was found as a puppy with a metal wire piercing deep into his neck. If forced to close, Dumbo and the 150+ other dogs and cats in SNAR’s care could be forced to face hurricanes, flooding, starvation, abuse, and other devastating threats all alone in the streets.
The shelter has been evicted four times previously – and in a meeting with the Ministry of Housing and Planning the shelter alleges they were essentially told they would continue to face threats of eviction if they attempted to relocate.
The vast majority of the animals helped by SNAR were once homeless and struggling to survive, or victims of horrific cruelty – like Charm the cat, whose leg was severed in retaliation after the hungry animal took food from a restaurant, according to his intake documentation.
Without an animal shelter in Dominica to provide urgent medical aid to companion animals, the overpopulation of kittens and puppies will only worsen.
“No shelter on the Island would mean that hundreds of animals are cruelly murdered and mutilated,” Dr. Golnaz Naderkhani told Lady Freethinker. “The situation will soon be magnified as we neuter and spay hundreds of street animals every year by running spay and neuter campaigns on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.”
Dominica has a responsibility to take every measure possible to protect the dogs and cats on the island from suffering. The animal victims of cruelty deserve a safe place to receive medical treatment, shelter, and compassion.
If the Dominican government moves forward in evicting the only animal shelter on the island, it will send the appalling message that animal welfare does not matter to the country. What’s more, leaving animals to suffer in the streets without support over time will lead to overpopulation and disease, and may impose a threat to human health and safety.
Sign this petition to urge the government of Dominica to stop all plans to evict St. Nicholas Animal Rescue – and to do everything in its power to prevent the senseless suffering of cats and dogs at human hands.
