The Tribune

How much longer can those in authority stay silent on the growing animal issues in The Bahamas, Kim Aranha asks . . .

ON Saturday, I got a report that a surrey horse went down, apparently on Bay Street.

I am in possession of a short video clip taken by somebody driving by. What is so very interesting and telling is that the same police force which turns a blind eye to all the surrey horse drivers’ infractions, was right there flexing its muscles and instructing the person taping the incident to stop filming.

Excuse me, but since when are we a police state that can dictate if we can film an animal, especially one that is treated with such disregard, normally in The Bahamas? The same group of men and women who blatantly ignore the mistreatment of animals daily, now strong-arm a citizen when they try to film the horse down in the street.

I would like to know why that person had to stop filming. Was it to protect the driver? Will this query of mine be met with silence too?

I find it alarming that after reaching out to our government on February 27 when I wrote an Insight article asking if the surrey horse drivers are above the law, there has been no response.

At the time, I asked why they were not stopped for overloading their carriages with too many passengers, why policemen allow this blatant law breaking to continuously occur in front of them, without so much as a glance. The response I got was ... silence.

So now there has been an incident with yet another surrey horse and this will be met with more silence, I guess.

On March 6 in this column I brought up the issue of the swimming pigs and their death by supposed “sand impaction,” even when hundreds of pigs were dying around New Providence. I called upon the minister of agriculture to issue an immediate recall for all the government-made pig feed.

Silence.

I called upon V Alfred Gray, the minister responsible, to address the farmers of our country and help those who have lost their livelihoods because of bad pig-feed.

Silence.

Then came the bombshell that, thank goodness, was totally ignored by the public, when Minister Gray announced that he thought the pigs died from an airborne disease. What kind of disease did he have in mind?

If that was actually the cause then I asked: “Has the native pork for sale in our food stores been tested? Is it safe to eat?”

This, too, was met with silence. Why did the minister make the sweeping statement that he thought it might be like the dogs and the distemper epidemic, a few years back? Thank the Lord that the suggestion of an epidemic did not cause panic. But, then, I guess, everybody knows that there was tainted pig’s feed.

I have asked for the reports and finding on samples supposedly taken from Big Major’s Cay. Silence. We asked for a necropsy report. Silence.

Clearly this administration is using the silent treatment in the hope that these questions will simply dissolve and disappear. The Bahamas Humane Society (BHS) as the leading NGO animal organisation, and the people of the Bahamas, need to know what the situation really is.

At this point I would only feel comfortable if I saw an independent report from an offshore laboratory. I am past believing anything at face value.

The farmers of New Providence are getting a very rough deal; they are not being considered, their animals have been dying and now they have to tolerate and survive in the fetid and acrid air that must permeate their farms daily from the fires.

The concerns are huge for the surviving animals but also for the farmers who have to work in those conditions. This concern too has been met with ... silence.

Conservation

Inagua has many wonderful natural tourist attractions, including the flamingos, parrots and donkeys. But a group in Inagua last week for a three-day visit did not see one donkey, despite looking for them continuously during their visit.

They spotted old droppings on the road, but no fresh ones. I was told by one of the people there that when they looked from an elevated area they could see a substantial distance, and not one donkey did they see.

It is known that they are shot and butchered, and sold for their meat. The Inagua donkey is known all over the world. These could well be a sub-species, as they have lived in that arid and salty environment for generations. Do we not fear for their future as they disappear?

The flamingo population thrives because it is protected. The parrot community is healthy because it is protected. The sea turtle population continues to increase because they are protected. The donkey population is under threat because it is not protected and is being eaten. Isn’t there some shame in that?

Therefore, whilst I am again reaching out to our government, I will call for protection of this precious Bahamian symbol of resilience. Please can the Ministry of the Environment hear the cry of the BHS and protect what few donkeys are left before they wind up on somebody’s dinner plate?

For a long time the Bahamas boasted a sub-species of horse in Abaco. There was much chatter and pride and speculation and whilst this was going on, the last wild horse of Abaco died. The reaction? Silence.

The Abaco Barb, also known as the Abaco wild horse, used to be plentiful there when I was growing up. There was a book I loved called “Jingo the Wild Horse of Abaco”, first published in 1959 and again in paperback in 1977, written by Jocelyn Arundel with illustrations by Wesley Dennis. It was a delightful book: now the book and the topic is purely history.

How much longer can the starfish be plundered and sold before there are none left in the sea, but a few in some aquarium, or dead and wizened on somebody’s bookcase, forgotten, collecting dust? I have reached out and suggested they be somewhat protected and that their wanton street sales not be allowed; what did I hear back? Silence.

My biggest concern is that nothing to do with animals or nature appears to be held sacred. No importance is given to flora and fauna. The surrey horse problem continues to loom over this country and many people see it as a black mark on our tourism product though many in government will insist that it is essential to the Bahamian tourist experience. I beg to differ.

We brashly cut down tress, bulldoze historic buildings, over fish our waters, allow thousands of sea creatures to be picked up, killed and sold, all in the name of the all-mighty dollar. We rape and destroy the resources we have, to hand over a meagre dowry to our children and grandchildren. The pleas from those who care is met with ... silence.

The concept of conservation is to protect while there is still a healthy population, not to wait until the last has withered and gone and then cry over it.

All the ministries affected by these losses and who exercise this stony silence need to step up and respond, act and do something about all the animal and environmental issues the BHS gets involved in by default because nobody else will.

Kim Aranha is the president of the Bahamas Humane Society. Send comments and responses to insight@tribunemedia.net