Cane-knife wielding lunatics terrorise local animals
Animal cruelty has reached unprecedented levels, and has disturbed and alarmed vets at the Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals (SPCA). They are now calling for urgent and immediate action to curb the problem.
In March this year, a 15-month-old mongrel bleeding from a deep gash on the back was found abandoned by the roadside.
The cut was so deep that it had penetrated the spine, which was visible through the open wound. One horrified staff member, who did not wish to be named, said: “This place just really makes you hate humans sometimes.”
The dog miraculously survived the attack but is now permanently paralysed in his back legs.
Equally, if not more concerning, are poisoning cases.
In an interview with the Fiji Sun, Canadian veterinarian Dr Jessica Hoopes said the poisoning of dogs using paraquat and other forms of serious abuse, leading to long and agonising deaths, was unacceptable.
She said they have received at least 1000 reports of poisoning, including the online platforms— which is particularly high.
“By far the most common cause of intentional animal cruelty we see here in Fiji is the use of the poison paraquat,” Dr Hoopes said.
“In high-doses the poison causes death within a week after ingestion as a result of kidney failure, liver necrosis or the buildup of fluid in the lungs.
“However in smaller doses, the poison causes irritation, ulceration and sloughing of the mouth and stomach, as well as gradual damage to the lungs leading to respiratory failure days to weeks after ingestion.” She added that some of the cases of cruelty they have encountered are so extreme that even the vets are traumatised by them.
This cruelty is by no means restricted to dogs, according to SPCA staff.
There have also been cases of cruelty against cats.
Just this year the SPCA team found two cats that had their back legs tied together with cable ties. “In October 2016, we received two cases of cats from the Raiwaqa area that had their hind legs bound with cable ties,” she said
“The ties were so tight that they acted as a strap, cutting off blood supply and causing the tissues of the paw to die and slough off.” The cats had to be put down.
In August 2015, SPCA came across another dog viciously attacked with a cane knife by a person from a neighbouring house.
The dog’s tail was cut off and his face had been cut so badly that the dog’s nose and the front of his jaw were held to the rest of his face by its skin. Collaborating with SPCA, one of the shelter volunteers flew the dog to Canada where he received treatment for his injuries, and, after numerous surgical and diagnostic procedures, the dog’s life was saved. Negligence is yet another major problem not often recognised in the country as a form of cruelty. “The most horrifying, and the one I think that needs the most education, is the amount of severe animal cruelty that’s gone on through negligence,” said Dr Hoopes.
“I had dogs come in that broke their legs ten years ago. The leg is hanging off their body and the owner has never put it back together. That dog has been suffering the whole time.
“They think that a dog can keep going without any form of pain control.”
Dog owners have brought in their pets that haven’t eaten for days, asking the vet to treat them for what they say is an illness with an ‘unknown cause’, she said. Another common form of cruelty is throwing hot water on dogs. SPCA has treated numerous dogs with third degree burns caused by boiling water.
SPCA staff has also often found animals abandoned at the doorstep of the clinic – which is a crime.
Dr Hoopes, usually a first responder when injured animals arrive to the clinic, says that it is sometimes difficult to deal with some of the injuries she has seen. “Anyone that deals with animals on a day-to-day basis deals with death on such a level that you have to put up some walls on emotions.” Are we tough enough on animal cruelty?
Under the Crimes Decree 2009 the maximum prison sentence for acts of animal cruelty is five years, but the law is not always enforced. SPCA Fiji President Deepak Rathod said he has never heard of anyone being prosecuted for a case of animal cruelty.
He said: “In terms of cruelty people don’t realise that it is cruelty. Keeping your dogs tied up at home for 24 hours—nobody considers that as cruelty.
“It’s not a case of us not having any laws. The implementation of the law is a problem at the moment.”