Saturday, August 25, 2007
Dear Mayor of Belmopan,
Greetings from Seine Bight Village. I am writing in response to the strychnine eradication being planned for Belmopan on 26 August.
I am a Belizean, and a member of the Placencia Humane Society and I have to agree with the Belmopan Humane Society that such a practice is totally inhumane and senseless and can be handled in a more modern way that does not harm any beloved pets.
The poisoned chicken will be around for days. Yes, you may kill a few strays but you will also kill pets.
Most cats are not tied or leashed, plus, the poison is around for a long time after the date of poisoning, and can poison any wild creature or bird as well, not to mention a dog being walked properly on a leash—we see our own dogs gobble up garbage off the beach even when we are scolding them. They just cannot resist!
My family experienced the strychnine poisoning of our beloved dog Dee in 2005. She was in our yard but someone planning a robbery threw some strychnine-laced meat into the yard that night and she ate it.
We were lucky enough that a veterinarian was conducting a clinic in our area the next day and we rushed her to the clinic where she had blood transfusions for about 12 hours. The strychnine had seized up her muscles and her teeth had actually clamped down so hard on her tongue that the teeth came through the other side. Her body was tensed as a rock. Everyone at the clinic was horrified and a story in our local paper, Placencia Breeze, was printed about this terrible incident.
Our dog was saved but only lived a short two years before her liver gave out from the poisoning, as the veterinarian explained might happen.
A few months ago this year she suffered stroke, loss of coordination and finally died, years ahead of her natural time.
Dee was poisoned by strychnine and we all know the suffering an animal goes through—it takes a long torturous time to die.
I don’t know how you feel about pets but my family suffered terribly over this incident. We were saddened by the senseless cruelty and pain that an innocent creature had to endure, and for what?
We wondered where the strychnine came from because it’s not sold in stores for rat poison anymore.
Now I am wondering if the strychnine came from the government strychnine eradication program. Some scamp could have stolen it or might have been hired by one of these towns in an “eradication” project and kept some for personal reasons.
I will be personally emailing a story about Dee’s case to the newspapers. It’s time to share the grief and reality. Belizeans are more humane that that, and everyone I spoke to hates the strychnine eradication program.
I include a picture of our much missed pet and hope you as a sensible and proud Belizean will be moved to stop this cruel eradication.
Sincerely,
Linn Wilson
Seine Bight Village
Placencia Peninsula