Dear Editor,
I recently read on the internet that, “Pitbulls are not made part of the human family but are like production machines.” On the other hand I know of some owners who treat their pitbulls as loving members of their families and receive love in response. I think most local pitbull owners see pitbulls as ‘production machines’ for the owners economic benefit. The more I see and read about the abuses to pitbulls in Guyana the more disgusted I become with humans.
Last December, a friend came to my gate and told me he wanted to show me what is happening when a pitbull ends up in the wrong hands and environment. It was only a 10 minute drive from my home; the owner told us he was given the pitbull when a friend of his emigrated just 2 weeks before. As we entered the yard, I could not help but feel uneasy as the yard had no fence and had tall grass on all sides. The owner also had livestock and a donkey. As we reached the pitbull, I was shocked at the sad condition of this once beautiful animal.
He was tied with a short cement sling under the house in a muddy hellish surrounding; one side of his face was swollen, and blood was dripping from his mouth. Yet, in spite of his environment and with his injuries, he was wagging his tail. I could feel his pain and asked the young man how this had happened.
He said that when he received the (free) dog he built a pen with available soft wood between his livestock shed. The pitbull broke the pen, got out, bit his livestock and then ran out onto the street. When someone called him he came back home, found the pitbull and tied him up. He said he never beat the dog – yeah right!
What can I say? This and much worse happens to pitbulls on a daily basis in Georgetown. Pitbulls are brutalized in dog fights and by cowardly ‘men’ after their dogs lose, and street dogs are caught and thrown in pitbull pens to drive them crazier, etc. Emigrants and others give their dogs away to anyone without concern about how they will be treated. Dog breeders stress numbers and sales without apparent concern for how these animals (that create their income) will be treated.
Who will hear the cries of the suffering pitbulls and help them? Isn’t there at least one serious breeder or lover of pitbulls out there who will take the lead in lobbying for appropriate guidelines and laws for the fair treatment of pitbulls and other dogs in Guyana?
Please spay your dogs to lower the country’s dog population. If those who are planning on emigrating cannot find an appropriate home for their animals, they should euthanize them or take them to the GSPCA before they leave Guyana. Don’t turn your animals over to irresponsible humans!
“The world is a dangerous place to live: not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” – Albert Einstein.
Yours faithfully,
Syeada Manbodh
