The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMAS Alliance for Animal Rights and Kindness (BAARK) leader is urging the government to enforce laws against animal cruelty and breeding, saying the problem is worsening.

BAARK chairman Laura Kimble said some residents are breeding dogs in horrible conditions to make easy money, calling the suffering some animals experience “insane”.

“People have beaten dogs to death with baseball bats,” she said. “People chop them with machetes all the time because they’re angry. They abuse these animals. But it’s also worse because of the way they keep them. They keep them locked in boxes or on chains with no shade, short chains, no water. They’re starving on a chain,” she said.

A day after Bahamas Humane Society President Kim Aranha said tourists complain about the stray animal population in the country, Ms Kimble said visitors have no idea how badly animals are treated.

She said the Animal Protection and Control Act has all the provisions to deal with cruelty and breeding.

“The laws have to actually be enforced against animal cruelty,” she said. “So many people breed their animals. And the suffering is ridiculous. And we can only do what we can, but there’s very few volunteers working, and we’re all exhausted.”