By Christina Gabela
Animal protection groups and government officials converged May 15-17 at the Caribbean Animal Welfare Conference in Antigua and Barbuda to tackle the region's animal issues. Since the conference's inception six years ago, Humane Society International has joined forces with other organizations to serve the animal welfare activists of the Caribbean.
More than 130 individuals attended, representing government agencies and non-governmental organizations from 26 Caribbean nations as well as Central America, North America and the United Kingdom. Participants learned about disaster preparedness, humane education and responsible animal welfare, and how to conduct animal cruelty investigations.
The Bahamas Humane Society, a 2006 HSI Animal Advocate, has played a leading role in the battle against animal cruelty in their country. BHS Executive Director Kevin Degenhard, a former chief superintendent at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and trainer in the United Kingdom, has trained police and animal welfare personnel in the Caribbean since 1990. Degenhard and Stephen Turnquest, BHS shelter manager, engaged the participants at the HSI-sponsored cruelty investigation workshop at the conference.
Governments often don't pursue animal cruelty cases, so humane societies end up taking them on voluntarily. Many involve cases of animal fighting, especially dogfighting and cockfighting, both of which are popular in the Caribbean.
The cruelty investigation workshop instructed participants on investigating complaints of cruelty, and collecting and presenting evidence to the standard required in court. Thirty-eight attendees learned up-to-date methods and skills for investigating animal cruelty, with particular emphasis on sharing their experience in their home countries. While several participants had little practical experience to share, the information they learned in the workshop will enable them to support police and other government agencies by providing accurate and objective evidence to prove cruelty has taken place.
Animal cruelty encompasses a range of behaviors harmful to animals, from neglect to malicious killing. Most cruelty cases investigated by humane officers involve unintentional neglect that can be resolved through educating the animals' caretakers. Intentional cruelty, or abuse, is knowingly depriving an animal of food, water, shelter, socialization or veterinary care or maliciously torturing, maiming, mutilating or killing an animal. Intentional cruelty is of particular concern to government officials because it signifies psychological distress and often indicates that an individual either has already experienced violence or may be predisposed to committing acts of violence to humans.
The First Strike® campaign was created by The Humane Society of the United States in 1997 to raise public and professional awareness about the connection between animal cruelty and human violence and to help communities identify some of the origins of violence, predict its patterns, and prevent its escalation. HSI strives to deliver this program internationally through workshops and conferences such as the Caribbean Animal Welfare Conference and Animal Care Expo.
Christina Gabela is the Latin American and Caribbean Program Manager for Humane Society International.
