The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

ANIMAL Control has closed its investigation into a video that appeared to show a woman grabbing a dog from a porch and throwing it to the ground after officers were unable to identify where the incident occurred or the people involved.

Director of Agriculture Dr Jason Sands said the initial investigation went nowhere and officers moved on as Animal Control struggles to investigate a growing number of complaints with limited resources.

“If there was an identification or a way to identify that location or that person, that matter will be investigated,” Dr Sands said. “It was sent to Animal Control, but the initial investigation went nowhere, so they had to move on from that case.”

The footage appeared to show the woman handling the dog roughly during a confrontation with members of the Bahamas Alliance for Animal Rights and Kindness (BAARK).

Dr Sands said Animal Control is dealing with more complaints than its resources allow.

“We have so many of these calls coming in at the moment at Animal Control,” he said, “and they are doing their best with very limited resources to investigate all of them and to work along with the police when the police call them in for calls that they receive.”

Outgoing Bahamas Humane Society president Kim Aranha previously said the footage left her “sick to my stomach” and argued that the apparent incident, which BAARK said occurred on August 7, should result in prosecution.

In footage of the confrontation, a woman could be heard repeatedly shouting, “I don’t give a (expletive) you record,” as a man told her: “You have to spay your animals.”

The man later asked: “You gonna take care of that dog?”

The woman then walked towards a home and said, “carry him back with you,” before appearing to grab a dog from the porch and throw it.

BAARK described the incident as “horrific and deeply disturbing” and said it happened after its team returned dogs to the area following a spay and neuter exercise.

The organisation said the events stemmed from an August 5 spay and neuter exercise, when a man asked it to collect two dogs from his St Charles Vincent Street property.

While there, workers noticed another dog underneath a parked car on the roadway. BAARK said the animal had no collar and was not on anyone’s property, so its team took it to the clinic with the other two animals.

The dogs underwent procedures and were returned to the area on August 7.