Stray dogs plague West Bay Road communities
Dogs seized by the RCIPS and DoA (file photo)
(CNS): A pack of vicious stray dogs that has been plaguing communities around the West Bay Road, from Snug Harbour to Camana Bay and now along Seven Mile Beach, attacking people and killing pets, is still on the loose, even though several dogs have been rounded up by the Department of Agriculture (DoA). Last week officials from the DoA and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service met with concerned residents in the area, including Planning Minister Joey Hew (George Town North), whose family’s pet cat was killed by these feral dogs.
Over the last few weeks reports have been made about the animals attacking kids on their way to Cayman International School, people being badly bitten and several pet cats being killed.
CNS learned Wednesday that another two cats were killed this week, one of them at Britannia, where these increasingly wild dogs have apparently made their territory. A pet cat was also killed at Poinsettia Condos on Seven Mile Beach.
Over the last few weeks the DoA has trapped eight dogs, including one on Minister Hew’s property following the attack on his own cat. At the meeting last Tuesday, DoA Director Adrian Estwick confirmed that the captured dogs were euthanised due to their “extremely aggressive behaviour and territorial tendencies”.
He also stated that at least three dogs remained at large, but more recent reports to CNS from people in the area suggest that there are more than three dogs in the remaining pack, which appears to be expanding its territory across the West Bay Road through the Camana Bay and Britannia areas, as well as Snug Harbour and now parts of Seven Mile Beach.
Estwick said the department has plans for a public awareness campaign to educate pet owners about the Animals Law and their responsibility under the law. However, the problem seems to be that the dogs have been abandoned and there are no owners to track down or hold responsible, as many may have already left island.
Officials also admitted that even when they can identify owners who allow dogs to be in public without a leash, which is an offence, the cases have to go through a lengthy and costly court process.
The RCIPS and DoA will be undertaking joint community operations, and Superintendent Brad Ebanks and Inspector for Community Policing Courtney Myles have promised an increased police presence in the public areas where residents walk their dogs unleashed, such as the Britannia Golf Club and Camana Bay, and said that officers will be handing out the brochures and talking to dog owners.
Estwick said the public needs to be careful that they are not contributing to the problem by interfering with the traps that have been set for the wild dogs or feeding the animals. He and Inspector Myles encouraged everyone to continue to share information of sightings of the pack of dogs.
People who encounter packs of wild dogs can call the Department of Agriculture’s Animal Control Unit on 947-3090 or email agriculture@gov.ky.
Reports of dog attacks or dogs dangerously out of control can be made to the RCIP by calling 911 or district police stations.
Category: Local News
Dear RCIPS:
Per Animals Law (2015 Revision)
§26 “Every person keeping a dog shall ensure that such dog while in any highway or other public place is on a lead and is wearing a collar with an identification tag bearing licence number attached thereto.”
§43 “If a dog defecates at any time on any public place and a person who is in charge of the dog fails to remove the faeces from the public place forthwith, that person commits an offence unless he has a reasonable excuse for failing to do so.”
$2000 fine per unlicensed dog, or per abandoned poo. Ticket accordingly.
They need to put a law in place and start charging the own of these dogs some serious fines in court.
Majority of people gets these dogs and can’t feed, imagine they can hardly feed themselves and don’t have no where to shelter themselves.
I think it’s a good thing when the DOA Animal Control Unit -Mr. Estwick & his team comes out and set those traps.
We just moved recently to a nice/quite developed neighborhood and the stray dogs are becoming a public naissances.
They intends to patrol early mornings 5:00am digging out people garbage looking something to eat & making lots of noise barking down the place. In a very large group of dogs, what I notice the female dog is in heat and that caused to fight a lot these past few mornings. Here we go again by all means that’s an increase of dogs again not be able to be fed. SMH!
Mr. Estwick, I salute to you and your colleges keep up the good work you are doing, continue to come out and set many more traps.
Next week I will call your office and ask for some assistants to come in my neighborhood and set some there as well.
Anonymous
Roaming dogs are an Island wide issue and has been for years. Is this getting attention because it involved the killing of an MLA’s pet?
All of this is a result of laws having been ignored for years. I have reported people who have their dogs roaming and chasing me and my leashed dogs when walking but there are .IF there are any consequences, it usually results in the dog being tied up for the rest of its life rather than the useless owners getting to feel any consequences.
I was trying to walk my two dogs the other day and had to abandon my walk as I saw a pack of three dogs roaming around in the area. I couldn’t take the chance being attacked. Sad – as usual it is the law abiding citizens who exercise consideration for their fellow residents who get the short end of the stick.
I don’t blame the hungry dogs for being dogs, but I do blame their worthless owners. I wish we could make these people run naked in the streets scrapping for whatever they could to live upon.
Once dogs acquire a pack-hunting mentality it is pretty much game over. Not their fault, but they can’t be allowed to continue.
My son in Cayman Brac says they are very bad there also, and doesn’t seem to be anything being done about it.
Not to mention the never-been-taught-consideration-or-respect worthless owners that think its perfectly fine to allow their dogs to bark for 23 hours straight from 12:00am to 11:00pm
West Side!
Add them to the iguana cull.
Also add the Wild Chickens that are running around scavenging in communities. This was never a problem in Cayman previously and is now increasing like the iguana problem.
Dept of Agriculture are useless, and there needs to be a culling programme for them tacked on to the iguana cull.
Lots of dog lovers posting here. If dogs are attacking people they should be euthanized, plain and simple.
There is clearly a problem, anyone who jogs around this island has had at least one encounter with these animals.
Best intentions are great until your kid gets bit.
And include the ones that are constantly chasing cars down the road. And euthanize the owners as well.
Just shoot the dogs. Stray dogs in a pack are incredibly dangerous. What is the issue? Small-caliber in the head.
Its not just feral dogs that are the issue. The law is that dogs must be kept on leashes on public property, but many people ignore this, and privately owned dogs are also attacking other peoples pets. The RCIPS/DOA are under-resourced and also handcuffed as not able to issue on the spot fines. The public are left to enforce it themselves, but who really feels comfortable telling someone to leash their dog? As to breeding, it’s illegal without a T&B, but this isn’t enforced either. The issue as to food source iguanas being culled? Nonsense, the attacks have been happening for 30 years, and there are 000’s of iguanas at the dump left delberately by DOA/etc to attract the animals. There is no one solution, but equally there is no real enforcement of any existing aids due to both inability and disinterest on part of us all. Perhaps mandatory spading/neutering for a generation would help, who knows.
Spot on! We were going to buy a nice house in south sound but the neighbor across the street in a shack lets their dogs loose to roam the streets. With young children and pets of our own we said HELL NO. What are we going to do? Ask them to keep them in their yard? That will just start a neighbor feud! Especially if we call the correct institution to confront them, nothing will happen and they will know it was us. I am furious it took a freaking MLA’s cat being killed by roaming dogs for them to give a shit. We deserve better protection from strays and local pets.
In ideal world yes, but in real life ( in the CI) people would always abuse laws and enforcements would be sporadic at best. So it is public safety issue that feral dogs are not managed and controlled in a country that proclaims to be a Global Financial Centre
World Class!
What would you expect. Their food source is disappearing, first the iguana cull and then DOE working overtime.
In other local news, stray West Bayers have been plaguing dog communities in other districts.
There is a serious inaccuracy in this report. There have been no reported incidences in this particular situation of people being badly bitten. None. If there have been please provide details.
CNS: We use information supplied to us from a number of sources, not all of them official and not all of them willing to have the details made public. However, while we didn’t go and inspect the injuries, we had no reason to doubt the sources in this case. We make every effort to make sure that our articles are as accurate as possible, given our resources, staff, etc.
What I cannot understand why the big news now? Beacuase a politician pet got attacked by a pack of dogs? This only shows how our politicians are so far unchecked of what is going on on their island. Everyday people and children are attacked by wild dogs and even neighbors dogs. Police and the DOA are called and nothing happens. I am aware of an incident where a dog was attacking people in our neighborhood and the DOA came and collected the dog yet after a day the owner went and collected the dog and he was back doing the same thing. Why now is this such a serious issue? Because of the politician or is it because it’s happening in the rich neighborhoods and the proximity of Camana Bay? Food for thought people on work permits should not own any pets if they are going to abandoned them at the term limit. Not fair to any animal.
Agreed with you up until you tried to place the blame on work permit holders. Sorry, but no dice
Exactly. All the bad pet owners in my neighbourhood are Caymanians.
We took our Cayman rescue dog with us when we returned to the first world.
That’s super cool Anon 6:13am but unfortunately there are many that do not. They usually return them to the shelter though, rather than release them to fend for themselves.
you are trolling without any proof supporting your assumptions.
I liked your comment for everything but the last part. It’s enforcement that needs to happen not banning.
@7:47 pm Professional work permit holders (WPH) pay big money to bring their animals with them and they take them back when they repatriate.
Service sector WPHs can’t afford to have an animal.
So the problem is local and has nothing to do with WPHs.
All dogs being imported should be banned immediately so we can get a handle of the issue.
It’s not imported dogs that caused this. It’s lack of pushisment for breaking laws. You would rather create new laws that won’t be enforced instead of enforcing current laws?
Come to Savannah /Newlands on the canals. We are being attacked nightly by stray dogs. Not one household here cares for their dogs and just lets them roam free to attack anyone in their path. We need to be aloud to carry cattle prods or guns when we walk in our neighborhood so we can make it home without being mauled. WAKE UP CAYMAN!!! We pay high taxes for the DOE to control such things but the are never seen!!!!
Locals don’t spray and neuter or keep them on the leash. Unfortunately it’s the Jamaican locals that do this mostly.
Stray dogs fall under the jurisdiction of the DOA (Department of Agriculture) not the DOE (Department of Environment) ..
They are both useless
Why have the police allowed it to get to this stage? How many breeding mills have they come across without prosecuting? How many gangstas have they seen with prohibited breeds without prosecuting? We reap what we sow. This has been a hell of a long time coming, and even now they talk about education rather than simple enforcement.
I suppose we are being educated about illegal tint, speeding, unroadworthy vehicles, missing license plates, failure to indicate, ….
All a farce of our own making.
time for a class action suit against the police for their failures and incompetence to the community
Maldadministration (if that is what has happened) is actually a crime. A prosecution may be much more exciting than a suit.
I tinted my car 5% right around just to bother people like you, despite never breaking the law otherwise. Don’t get the big deal.. sun hot.
if someone’s going to commit a crime, tint or no tint they’ll do it.
If tint caused them to escape on this very small island, that’s the RCIPS’ problem.
Why is it always somebody else’s fault? Idiots who allow their dogs to breed and have 10 puppies and don’t give a damn about half of them. Spay/neuter your dogs and we wouldn’t be in this mess!
Because somebody has the job of enforcing laws. We hire them and pay them to do that for us when individual pet owners are not responsible enough to be trusted. You do not think the people we pay should be accountable for taking our money but not doing their job?
Why have the DOA allowed it to get to this stage?**
Empower them to issue on the spot fines to owners once found.
what owners? its a pack of wild (feral) dogs.
What happened to the dog catcher? Isn’t that a daily/nightly round up?
Alot of those strays were previously owned we have enough in WB I use to feed many over the years only to learn they belonged to people that rarely feed them! We have had this problem for many years now it’s affecting the rich and wealthy that’s the only how it’s on the news now! People get dogs and turn them loose and the DOA and RCIPS doesn’t do anything that’s why it’s getting worst! Hold the owners responsible for their dogs!
What did people expect when you take away and cull their food source!!! People were so quick to make a fast buck on killing innocent iguanas but this is nature’s way of taking control.
How about the feral chickens?, they are always attacking garbage bags and spreading the contents everywhere.
Don’t forget the poo everywhere that you are tracking into your cars and homes… This is how disease spreads.
I knew someone that cooked some ‘free range’ eggs. Luckily he ate them himself before feeding to his kids. He was hospitalized…
The eggs were already bad. There’s a simple way to test eggs: put them in water. If they float, throw them away. Local eggs are the best eggs. The foreign eggs are 6 months old or older. Also, poo is good for your garden. and your garbage should be covered.
Not all poo. Dog poo is poisonous!
Eggs are perishables, what was that idiot thinking?
The cats eat the garbage. When can we get rid of them?
When can we get rid of the humans? Kill the iguanas, kill the cats, kill the dogs, kill the chickens.. what’s next our elderly and our children? It’s a shame taht animals are suffering for Caymanians screw ups. And yes, every single bad pet owner that I know is Caymanian. Dogs tied up constantly, others running loose, and most are pit bull mixes.
Trap the dogs and humanely get rid of them. People and children need protections.
Yes! Destroy them!
Feel bad for the dogs but what do you do!?
PS. Keep your dogs on a leash and your cats inside!!!!
When I was working in Israel in the mid-1990s they had a problem with unwanted dogs being dumped in the Negev desert where they presented a very real threat to the already potentially endangered wildlife. The solution was typically Israeli – they used the feral dogs as practice targets for army snipers. Maybe RCIPS could do the same?
How about we use you as a target for snipers in the Israeli desert?
That way, if you manage to not get shot, at least we got rid of your sorry ass!
just ban dog breeding. problem solved.
although it would involve law enforcement and we all know the police farce have a big problem doing that.
It is already banned without a license. No enforcement, ever.
I am sure there are lots of people, Caymanian and Expats alike, that could have given these animals the time they needed for rehabilitation. Let’s see how vicious people are when they don’t have food to eat! I guess because an MLA’s pet was in the mix the most extreme solution had to be taken.
Dear God. Just kill them.
There aren’t enough bacon bits and squishy toys in the world to rehabilitate some of these aggressive feral dogs. Many of them sired from prohibited breeds specifically for aggression and pit fighting. These are jackals for life and must be destroyed. Sad though that may be, it was never their fault – blame decades of DoA and RCIPS neglect and complicit veterinarians who attended generations of pregnant bitches and did nothing.
The West Bay Boltins neighbourhood has a pack of dog running around also. But these dogs are the pets of home owners in the area that pay no attention to the animal control laws. They just let the dogs run free. This include elected government officials as well as police officers and others living in the area. If that is how officials act, what can we expect of the regular citizens?
Same here in Northward Rd. There were 3 in my yard tonight, and there’s another three, all with collars, run rampant around here all day causing a nuisance.
No reptiles left for the strays to eat (you would see them all the time along the bypass while the iggies came out of their trees for their afternoon snack).
The dogs in this photo you used are already dead. Including the puppies who could have easily been adopted.
We don’t need DNA tests to prove that many of these are prohibited cross-breed mutts from domestic puppy mills. In as much as this should never have happened, these poor animals should be humanely destroyed by law, and efforts should be made at DoA to adopt a zero tolerance for the mills still creating future problems – including sanctions for all of the complicit vets involved. This has been going on for decades now. Our Humane Society, staff, and volunteers, can’t/shouldn’t have to handle all of this systemic slack.
Now let’s start to crackdown on the strays and the dogs that people own who are not on a leash. It boggles my mind that this island has so many wild dogs running around whether owned or not and no one has the balls to do anything! Wait, I mean take the balls away and this could be solved.
Thumbs down from the local who thinks neutering is taking away the dogs man hood! I think it’s just because they are too cheap to properly care for their animals, but that doesn’t sound so cool when bragging to other people.
solution:$500 dog license.
caught without a dog license…$5k fine.
Or caught with your dog out of your property without a leash!
The same is needed for having children! It’s absolutely insane that any drunk, druggie, moron or criminal has the right to bring a child into this world.
If only there were an elementary pet mgmt course, and household suitability tests…
And like dog tags and everything else, no enforcement therefore no fix.
Poor dogs! It’s not their fault, it’s the shitty owners who like puppies but have no time for adult dogs. Caymanians (yes I’m making a generalization because “who de cap fit”) are frigging horrible to animals!
Signed – Caymanian
Deport them please!
Interfering with the traps should be a criminal offense, if it isn’t already.