Do not leave animals with shacks or shops! Do not give money!

birds

Some tourists/season residents find stray puppies or kittens in Goa which they want to offer a better life.

In several cases, when these foreigners leave Goa they leave the animal with a shack or shop owner who offers and promises to look after it. Most of the time the foreigners will give the shack or shop owner some money (sometimes significant amounts upto Rs.50,000!!).

While this may work occasionally, I am afraid that only too often the money get pocketed and animal gets disposed of even before the foreigner has entered the plane back home. It happens so frequently that Goa's biggest animal shelter Animal Rescue, knows many such shack/shop owners by name!

There are also bars & restaurants which purposely take puppies and kittens in at the beginning of the season as they know it will attract these type of tourists. After the season the animals get left on the beach to face the monsoon. Many die. The ones that get dropped off at the animal shelters have a small chance of being adopted but most of them are euthanised.

Therefore I would like to urge people NOT to leave animals this way. Please try to find a local home which is not connected to the tourist trade. I know it is not easy but ask around, place adverts in local papers, etc. Do not give up!


P.S.
I decided to write about this as just now I learned again about a similar case whereby Cactus restaurant in Candolim disposed of a mother dog and six puppies for which they received looking-after-money!

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Of the estimated 500 million dogs in the world, approximately 75% are strays, of which about 25 million live in India.

Nick-H

So that'll be Cactus Restaurant on the list of places to Avoid, then.

Very sad, birds.

lara352

That sounds like such a ludicrous thing to do. Of course the money is going to get pocketed. Just off the specific topic for a moment, Birds, are you connected with with the International Animal Rescue centre? I've been mulling the idea over of applying to volunteer with the centre at some stage or with some shelter in Goa. Do you happen know if they get inundated with applications for from volunteers or if they are in constant demand. Any info would be greatfully appreciated. Thanks

Cardamom

That is just awful, birds
Are any posters being put up to alert tourists to this?

-C

palerider

I can't believe the gullibility of some people.
How could they possibly think the money was going to be used for feeding the animal etc.?.
Maybe they don't believe, it's just their way of assuaging their guilt. Throw money and it exonerates them from responsibility.

Can't say I'm enamoured with the idea of a domestic pet anyway, but, if you take this responsibility on, even for a holiday period, look after the poor creature.
Hrrrmphh.

They should be abandoned themselves.
I think it's called the Paris Hilton Syndrome.

__________________
I always wanted to be someone when I grew up, I realise now that I should have been more specific.

PeakXV

You mean I can't leave them safely with the all-knowing, yes men at those beach joints? You mean they might misappropriate my advancement of care funds. Please don't tell me this because ignorance is bliss, out of sight, out of mind etc, etc.


Come on folks, owning a pet is often a 10-20 or more year obligation. Some people only get a puppy/kitten for the short-term emotional lift & attention they get from their new found friend - yet don't realize that while their affection may only be fleeting - the pet's feelings rarely are.

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What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

birds

No, I am not officially connected with International Animal Rescue (IAR) other than that I support their work and often get animals from there when we find homes. Last year we managed to find 86 homes for pups and 107 for kittens , most came from IAR and GSPCA. They also help us with doing the sterilisations (last year some 263!).

They do get lots of volunteers but, as far as I know, always appreciate all of them. There is always more work than hands so a constant demand. I am sure you would be very welcome.

The GSPCA in Porvorim is a much smaller shelter which rarely gets volunteers but also there you would also be welcome.

You are so right! I am not angry when people do decide not to look after an animal. I just get mad when they take money and promise to look after but don't do so. For me that amounts to fraud.

Hal

Anyone who "adopts" a pet for a few months then tries to pawn it off on a shop should not have their visa renewed.

birds

Not so harsh! Many people try and believe they are doing the right thing because they believe the promises of these shop/shack owners. Perhaps naive, perhaps the easy way out (in which case your suggestion applies!), perhaps not thinking enough but in most cases they probably do mean quite well.

At least via India Mike we can alert people to these scams.

I think it is important to realise that this is not a one off scam but well thought out plans. Apparently many of the beach shacks in Anjuna have been doing it for years, earning some owners a very tidy sum.

Also there are some shops & shacks which are really caring for stray animals. A shining example is Ajay's Supermarket in Mapusa.

carlaeb

I've gotten really attached to several of the beach dogs that hang out at shacks near my house. I had not thought before that several of the owners might abandon them when season is over.

This is a good warning. Many of the shack owners care for their dogs really well, and I can totally understand someone believing that they would take care of a dog.

I don't know how I'm going to handle seeing many of these dogs ditched during monsoon. How bad of a problem is it?

anar

this sounds so awful!

birds

It is difficult to quantify but the problem is not small. During monsoon you will see lots of skinny and mangy dogs. Quite a few are very friendly so you can tell they are used to people.

The best thing you can do to help is to organise sterilisation for as many dogs as possible.

This avoids the males getting into fights which often results in wounds which especially during the monsoon do not heal well because of the wetness, the wound than get infested with maggots, which is followed by a horrible death.

Sterilised females of course do not get pregnant so can use their energy on surviving the monsoon rather than pregnancy and looking after pups.

If you come across mangy dogs they can be vaccinated with Ivermectine which goes a long way in preventing and curing mange and can help them through the monsoon. Ivermectine is available as injection (Rs.35) and as tablets (Rs. 50 for 6) (but tablets need to be given daily for about three weeks which is not always possible with strays).

So instead of leaving money with a shack/shop, if during a holiday somebody gets to like a stray, the easiest way to help is to get it sterilised while you are there.

Animal Rescue is often full but GSPCA in Porvorim has always almost places available. If necessary dogs and cats can be done already from 3 months old.


P.S. Cats, at least the adult ones, fare slightly better as they tend to depend less on shack food.

carlaeb

I love cats but haven't met friendly ones here.

As for the strays, I'm happy to sterilize any that end up friendly with me. But most of the dogs that I'm friendly with belong to the beach shacks. I've suggested that they sterilize them, but the perception here seems to be that this is a cruel thing to do to dogs. I've had people tell me that it will deprive them of joy or that it is cruel since the females have a right to have puppies. Absolutely bizarre to me.

Anyway, when the season is over and the shack owners are gone, I'll be happy to help out with any of the dogs left behind. The ones that my dog plays with most have a pretty good life, so I really hope their owners keep them. It must be traumatic for a dog to have such a great life and then suddenly find itself all alone. The world is full of suffering, and the dogs are just a part of it. So sad.

birds

Yah, that it the excuse they come with and often the first indication of what they are up to. It is because they have certainly no intention of spending money on them, only making money.

If they come with that nonsense I always tell them that dogs and cats do not derive pleasure from sexual intercourse as they do not get orgasms.

This kind of talk tends to make them a little uncomfortable. And than to increase the pressure I sweetly ask them if they can tell me what the word for orgasm is in Hindi. At this point they often tell me to just take the dog and get it done , .

Nick-H

I understand that people think they are doing good, however, I would not give a home to an animal from the street unless I knew that it was possible for the arrangement to be indefinite.

So, that's...

Ajay's Supermarket in Mapusa --- doing good work.

Cactus restaurant in Candolim --- to avoid.

(Google is our friend --- and even perhaps our weapon at times! )

<crossposted>dreadful. Better not to interfere with its place in the pack in the first place --- apart, as birds says, from sterilisation.