Dear Madam First Lady,
This letter serves two main purposes: first, I would like to commend you for all the hard work and contributions towards animal welfare in Guyana that you and your family have invested. You are in a position of power and influence, and I urge you to use your position more to push as we finally put an end to animal suffering and cruelty in Guyana. We don’t know when we will get another First Lady with such a love for animals; so, for now, let us make the best of it.
With that said, I humbly suggest the following:
• The Laws of Guyana relative to Animal Welfare (RE: GUYANA ACT NO. 18 OF 2018 ANIMAL WELFARE ACT 2018) need to be revised, and moreso modernised. Let us sit together, as animal lovers – as I did with Syeeda Manbodh and Shanti Matthews and others so many years ago at Ms. Manbodh’s oasis – to discuss the way forward. Listen to the people who hold animal welfare at heart, not just the ones in it for the profits.
• Education is the way forward. We are quickly moving away from illiteracy, but there are still a few who would cause us to strongly contend with this. A few such coming to mind are the man from Enmore who beat a tied dog, the youngers from Berbice who lit firecrackers and taped it shut in a female dog’s mouth, the Chinese national who chopped and killed a pregnant dog on her back last month. I truly believe that people do better when they know better.
Education is the key. Our young people need to be brought up with the proper influences. We need to educate them and guide them in the direction we want to see them go.
• Let us form groups to visit schools, Police stations, and other locations where our presence can make a difference in educating about animals. When people start being personally responsible for their own actions; when they start being empathetic and compassionate towards animals and each other; that is when animal welfare would really start to improve in this country. My services are always readily available when it comes to education and animals.
• There should be strict penalties for animal abusers. No, not the usual slap on the wrist; not the usual one check from Policemen, and once they don’t find the perpetrator, they forget about the matter. Once the Police know the law, they can enforce it. Once they themselves are required to provide feedback and reports by their seniors, they would give these matters the importance they deserve. Once the gravity of animal cruelty is realised, people would think twice before hurting an innocent creature.
Abusers need to be held responsible for their actions. Animal abuse should be one of the most highly punishable crimes here in Guyana.
• Spaying and neutering here in Guyana really does cost an arm and a leg for a lot of persons, who are wise and have the desire to help, but just cannot financially afford to. Therefore, so many innocent animals are impacted. I commend organisations like Rosewood, Tails of Hope, GSPCA, and Animal Kingdom for creating the means of having an animal fixed so that animal would not continue to reproduce. But what about the smaller bodies, who are trying their utmost but just cannot afford it: Genevieve Beepat, Forever Hope Alive, and Varsha Ramlakhan, people who go above and beyond the call of duty? The old, the poor, and the homeless want to help, but due to the high cost of spaying and neutering, just cannot.
I do believe that, in the effort to end animal overpopulation, this is a cost that can be absorbed by the Government, or at least subsidised. We pay 14% VAT, we give 30% of our salaries, and undeserving businesses and foreigners are given so many exemptions. Surely, some of this can go towards ending overpopulation once and for all.
Madam First Lady, I implore you to open your heart to the cries of these helpless and voiceless creatures. They cannot help themselves, please do more. Allow us who actually want to help to help you to do more. God bless.
Kind regards,
Naiad A
