In May, volunteers from Baark! visited San Salvador for a three-day spay and neuter (S&N) clinic. Volunteers traveled from Cat Island, Andros, Freeport and Nassau to take part. It was the inspiration of Dave and Karen Kredl, Canadians who have been traveling to San Salvador for many years. Due to their hard work in fundraising and organization, we were able to spay and neuter 74 animals in San Salvador and Rum Cay. Local animal rescue hero Manfred was also instrumental to the cause by flying Dr. Wildgoose and two volunteers to Rum Cay for the afternoon for an impromptu S&N clinic. Manfred also adopted all of the cats from Club Med that were caught (and fixed) over the weekend.
There was definitely a feral cat problem in San Salvador and for the team members who had mainly dealt with dogs in the past, this was going to be a crash course in feline management. Although we had five cat traps with us, we also had to use dog traps due to the high volume of cats we were trying to catch. As cats are a little more elusive than dogs, this took longer than our normal catch rate.
Our clinic site was donated by the Gerace Research Centre, a COB facility, where students from all over the United States and The Bahamas study archaeology, biology, geology and marine science. The staff and students could not have been more accommodating and some visiting veterinary students were even able to lend a hand too.
Such were the habits of the feral cats that it was felt we would have even more success if we also set up a night clinic in a maintenance facility at Club Med. Three volunteers and Dr. Davis, who had all been on their feet since 7 a.m. with the rest of the team, bravely volunteered to keep on working through the night to increase the number of cat spays and neuters. Unfortunately, the cats also seemed to have received this memo and refused to put in a show. The willing but weary volunteers called it a night at 11 p.m. and gladly hit their beds.
The Baark! team has already been to Eleuthera and Andros this year and has plans to visit Abaco and also return to Andros. There will also be further initiatives in Nassau, following the one that was started in Kool Acres and Elizabeth Estates recently.
o Please spay and neuter your animals. By ensuring your animal cannot produce more litters, you are saving lives and decreasing the suffering of unwanted animals. Please consider donating or helping with Baark!'s efforts to improve animal welfare in The Bahamas. For more information, contact us at info@baarkbahamas.org, 427-SPAY or visit our website www.baarkbahamas.com.
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