Adopted pit bulls returned to Humane Society of Grand Bahama after alleged mistreatment

The pair of pit bulls named Frik and Frak.

As of Thursday, October 12, 2023

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Staff Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

TWO adopted pit bulls were returned to the Humane Society of Grand Bahama after allegedly being mistreated and subjected to cruel conditions.

Tip Burrows, executive director of the HSGB, said the pit bulls, Frik and Frak, were lawfully retrieved from a business establishment in Mather Town on Saturday, October 7.

The dogs were tied up outside on a short lead –– one to a boat trailer and the other to a tree or building. The animals were not provided shelter or water, and the food in their bowls were unfit for consumption.

The police K-9 unit accompanied Ms Burrows to get the dogs.

“They were in dirt and tied with 4ft leads, which is horrible,” Ms Burrows said. “They were dirty and skinny. There were no water containers nearby and they had a bowl of food in front of them, which was covered in ants.”

A well-known businessman adopted the pit bulls from the shelter in August.

Before they were adopted, Burrows conducted a home check and found it suitable for the dogs.

However, a month ago, concerned residents notified Ms Burrows about two dogs and pigs kept at a business place in Mather Town.

She said she contacted animal control officials numerous times to investigate the situation, but when an animal control officer and police checked, they found nothing wrong.

Ms Burrows said the dogs were being used as guard dogs, violating the adoption contract.

“I knew immediately they were our dogs,” Ms Burrows said. “We got them in January when they were three months old and they grew up here at the shelter and have been indoors.

“It is disheartening that the person is a prominent long-standing businessman in the community. I had no reason to think that this person would end up putting the dogs in this kind of condition.”

Ms Burrows said the dogs are doing well back at the shelter.

“Unfortunately, the laws in the country are not adequate for this kind of thing,” she said. “The parameters under which dogs can be tied are not clearly defined, so it is a grey area, and nothing is in the law to say the lead should be X long.

“But, obviously, lack of shelter is considered animal cruelty, and it is an offence.”

“It is difficult getting the authorities to take what laws there are seriously.”

JokeyJack 7 months, 1 week ago

ALL pitbulls should be killed. They are not dogs. Lions should not be allowed to roam in public. The attack on Balao Road a few months ago is just one example of many - some being infants and children maimed and killed. It's just stupid, and beyond stupid, that they should be allowed to exist in normal society.

There must be somewhere which is native to these creatures, and that is where they should belong and stay. What's next ? Alligators?

A 7th Grader from Government High in Nassau just had his left half bitten off by an alligator while walking home from school. The owner of the gator said he kept the alligator at his home as a pet, and that it is "his right" to own whatever animal he wants to own.

Really ?

LastManStanding 7 months, 1 week ago

Nah man, pibbles was a good boy who dindu nuffin. The school child looked at him a little too hard and that caused him to spaz out and maul him/her.

Pitbull apologists again sometime soon

bahamianson 7 months ago

It is the pitbull's fault.. euthanize the pitbull. It isnt the human's fault. Pitbulls are bad, kill the pitbull. How silly does that sound? Humans are the ultimate problem , not the pitbull, not the car that kills people, not the gun that kills people , not the knife. It is the human that is the problem. Control the human and all others will go away.

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