Tourism and Animal welfare in the Carribean

Everywhere in the Caribbean they meet, tourists and strays, the same as in all southern vacation spots.

The strays profit from tourism just as much as the Caribbean economy; from being fed by animal-loving tourists and from the edible waste of the affluent in garbage bins and bags luring the animals with irresistible odors. But these plentiful resources hold great, even deadly dangers for the strays. Not all tourists are friends of animals. Some feel disturbed by the friendly dogs.

And their habit to knock over garbage bins, tear up sacks and scatter the garbage while searching food causes great annoyance among retaurant owners, hotel managers and operators of touristic enterprises.

Therefore strays are still seasonally poisoned in far too many places to reduce their numbers; especially there where they are not being spayed and neutered. And that is why the work in the field of tourism belongs to a sustainable animal welfare work in all southern countries where tourism is an important part of the economy, although it is a very difficult task because the tourist industry is first of all profit-oriented which leaves very little room for empathy with other beings and the commitment to environmental or animal welfare causes of some tourist companies nowadays is mostly image maintenance.

Our petition “No more poisoned and abused dogs and cats at hotels, beaches and in communities of the Caribbean!” (2013 – 2018) had the goal to start a development towards a better future for animals at Caribbean holiday paradises by raising the awareness of tourists, informing them how many animals die because the hotel industry believes that they may disturb tourists, showing how tourists can change that and making the tourist industry realize that most of their customers want a humane treatment of animals at their holiday destinations. Here you find the chronology of our petition.

2018 began our pilot project Boca Chica. Here we want to show how animal welfare and tourism can cooperate in a real alternative to poisonings; with spay neuter, a feeding program and information for tourists who will be given an opportunity to participate in a way that benefits the animals instead of putting them into danger. Everything about the development of project Boca Chica you find here.

The tourist – the key to the success of animal welfare in the Caribbean! Caribbean economy depends to 100 % on tourism. Therefore tourists do have the power to change the situation of Caribbean strays if they only raise their voice loudly and clearly enough!

There are already encouraging examples of tourists’ protests influencing island governments to permit spay and neuter projects or convincing hotels to cooperate with animal welfare.

We ask you in the name of all Caribbean strays:

Never take an animal with you to your hotel or feed animals inside or near a restaurant and don’t encourage them to share your sun lounger or beach towel with you. That is the wrong way to show your love for animals! These animals that have gained confidence in humans and seek their attention and help are the first victims of poisonings!

The bitch on this photo that had been spoiled by tourists so thoughtlessly and then was left behind was extremely lucky!

The guests of this hotel room adopted her! Hadn’t they been animal lovers, her behavior would have been the death sentence for this bitch!

Never feed an animal during your vacation and then leave it behind uncared for!

If you meet an animal during your vacation that needs your help, don’t ignore it! Contact the animal welfare organization near to you and enable them to help the animal by covering the costs of its rescue. Our page Animal Welfare Addresses in the Caribbean (which is being currently updated) informs you about the animal welfare organizations at your vacation spot. Please support the animal welfare organization at your holiday location with a donation! These small organizations are faced daily with countless suffering animals and emergencies. And they have hardly a chance to generate financial support locally! Or donate for the maintenance of accepted feeding places. When animals get conditioned to seek food there instead of begging at hotels and restaurants or rummaging through the garbage, many lives can be saved. And make sure that as little food leftovers from you as possible land in the garbage!

If you fall in love with an animal during your holiday and decide to adopt it, make sure that it has a foster place with the help of the local animal welfare organization before you leave and cover the costs of the board for the time it takes to prepare the animal for the journey and fulfill all entry requirements of your home country! Importing an animal can often be a lengthy and not quite cheap procedure – but it is always worth it! Contact gorskiisabel@t-online.de . We will be happy to advise you and assist with all formalities. We are also there for you if you have problems to contact local animal welfare.

Visit our online travel guide Animal-friendly hotels in the Caribbean (that will be updated after the Corona pandemic) There you find hotels that cooperate already with animal welfare and spay and neuter the resort animals. You might find there your next vacation spot!

Ask the hotel that you stay at to cooperate with the local animal welfare organization and to get the animals on the hotel ground and at the hotel beach spayed and neutered. Make it clear that your return to this hotel or its recommendation to others depends on that and that you will report about your experiences when you return back home. And please take the time to write a few lines about the experiences you made at your holiday resort on tripadvisor. Hotels care especially about their ranking on tripadvisor.

 

Please help us to turn the Caribbean into a real holiday paradise!