Fiji’s only homeless animal shelter, The Greater Good Foundation says Fiji is developing an international reputation for animal brutality, and it is time for our leaders to make made animal welfare part of their agenda.
The Greater Good is calling for an animal welfare policy which outlaws government and council poisoning programs, provides funding for NGOs to humanely trap, neuter and release programs to control the population of street dogs and cats, sees criminal convictions for deliberate cases of animal cruelty and includes a national education campaign on animal welfare and provides subsidised or free neutering (desexing) of pets and farm animals.
The organization is asking why this issue does not rate a mention by any of the election candidates.
Spokesman, Mohammed Khan says the world watches in horror at stories of dogs poisoned with weed killer, deliberate cane knife injuries including amputations and animals burned alive with boiling water.
Khan says these are abhorrent in other countries but common in Fiji.
He says social media is also documenting pig hunters kidnapping dogs off the streets and from compounds and routinely torturing and starving them.
The Greater Good is calling for political parties to take this growing issue seriously.
Khan says everyone can see the number of homeless, starving and injured animals on the streets and the scale of suffering is unbelievable.
Khan says Fiji’s animal cruelty laws are not enforced and there have been no convictions.
He says due to the lack of proper welfare policy, the government and councils are responsible for deadly baiting campaigns which are conducted under the cover of darkness so no one sees.
Khan says every few months they mount a midnight operation in our main towns and cities, and overnight scores of dogs and cats die an agonizing and slow death.
The Greater Good is calling on the newly elected government to work with Fiji’s animal welfare NGOs to come up with a proper plan to address animal welfare.
He says they are one of a number of NGOs who are trying to tackle the problem with no help from the government.
Khan says SPCA in Suva, Animals Fiji and PASH in the west are all agencies that could do much more if the government took the problem seriously.
