Starting the New Year Right

[bethieb]

In an effort to encourage peace and goodwill among all, I challenge the SAGA staff and Board of Directors to begin referring all medical cases, be they clients or sheltered animals, to the San Pedro Animal Hospital, until such time as SAGA acquires the services of another vet on the island.  There is no reason not to send the medical cases to a vet now that there is a nice medical facility on the island. 

Perhaps this will be the start of the two organizations working in concert to better serve the animals of San Pedro, and will put an end to the acrimony and other nonsense so that we can all move on to being grateful for the services of both entities for the sake of the animals. 

I will be posting a celebratory notice if and when the first animal is referred by SAGA to the vet, instead of being treated by non-vet personnel at SAGA or sent packing to the city or Corozol.

I  have made a duplicate posting of the ACMB.  It is time we donors speak up and assist in getting things smoothed out for the benefit of the animals.

[Grant3wishes]

I concur, I look forward to hearing that Saga animals are being treated by Laurie, should the need arise.

Happy New Year to all.......

[thevet]

Thank you Bethieb for making the voice of a donor heard.  I think that is very important and does not seem to happen often enough.  I hope your actions will encourage other supporters of Saga to make their voices heard as well.  It should be your organization, as the community of San Pedro, not anyone else's.

So far I have treated one Saga patient- a stray dog which was brought to me by two concerned members of the community when the Saga clinic was closed for lunch.  I examined her, cleaned her wounds, and gave Ingrid instructions on anitibiotics and doses to use.  I received no compensation for this, or thanks, and have not seen one other patient from them in the three weeks since I left. 

I saw an emergency two nights ago - a dog was brought in and the owner told me he had taken a dog to be neutered to Saga that same day, and was told, "No, problem." 

Maybe Saga could respond to your post by sending this patient to me to be neutered. 

On my last day at Saga Ingrid asked me to stay late to perform another spay of a shelter dog.  For the first time I told her no.  Now that I am on my own it does not seem so important to have her spayed, apparently.  It was 5pm that night, and I had worked all day, and had not even had time to pack my things and move out of my office or my bedroom.  As a result I got tired by about 12 am and did not finish moving out of my bedroom.  I returned the next day to finish getting my things in the middle of all the locks being changed...The board made Ingrid stay late while I finished packing my things and moving them out, rather than staying themselves.

It might be a nice idea to send that pup over to be spayed as well.

[bethieb]

I just cannot believe this!   Unless the SAGA directors get their shit together and quickly, it looks to me like SAGA's donations will dry up and probably not too far down the road.    I can't see how anyone would feel comfortable donating anything to this organization in its current state of mismanagement.  And we will talk about this, not just on this and the other board. 

Sadly, the community will lose what could be a wonderful shelter and humane society.   The SPAH will certainly flourish but the health prevention and strays needing shelter will not!!!  Wake up SAGA.  The directors can then control SAGA with no assets or funds.   I am so disheartened, but not too surprised considering the broads 'managing' SAGA.   There is still time for them to turn it around.  We will see their true characters and intent either way.

[peterbj7]

Thank you Bethieb for making the voice of a donor heard.  I think that is very important and does not seem to happen often enough.  I hope your actions will encourage other supporters of Saga to make their voices heard as well.  It should be your organization, as the community of San Pedro, not anyone else's.

So far I have treated one Saga patient- a stray dog which was brought to me by two concerned members of the community when the Saga clinic was closed for lunch.  I examined her, cleaned her wounds, and gave Ingrid instructions on anitibiotics and doses to use.  I received no compensation for this, or thanks, and have not seen one other patient from them in the three weeks since I left. 

I saw an emergency two nights ago - a dog was brought in and the owner told me he had taken a dog to be neutered to Saga that same day, and was told, "No, problem." 

Maybe Saga could respond to your post by sending this patient to me to be neutered. 

On my last day at Saga Ingrid asked me to stay late to perform another spay of a shelter dog.  For the first time I told her no.  Now that I am on my own it does not seem so important to have her spayed, apparently.  It was 5pm that night, and I had worked all day, and had not even had time to pack my things and move out of my office or my bedroom.  As a result I got tired by about 12 am and did not finish moving out of my bedroom.  I returned the next day to finish getting my things in the middle of all the locks being changed...The board made Ingrid stay late while I finished packing my things and moving them out, rather than staying themselves.

It might be a nice idea to send that pup over to be spayed as well.

This is just too incredible not to be true!!!  They distrusted Laurie so much they changed the locks when she left?  There's no way they're ever going to get into a working relationship with SPAH.  I'm sorry, but unless the board resigns en masse I see no future for SAGA.  We have to start making alternative arrangements, or animal welfare in San Pedro is going to take a giant step backwards.

[Lilith]

When is the next eradication?

[2Aggies]

People or strays? 

[bethieb]

Most people give lots of money to SAGA to prevent exactly that - the poisoning!!!  In these more challenging economic times, charities are seeing the funds dry up as it is.  SAGA will be no different and if it continues this trend of not utilizing the donations to serve the animals and provide them with spay/neuters and medical treatment, it is over.

[peterbj7]

When is the next eradication?

Thanks to the efforts of Laurie and (I believe) Ingrid that was postponed indefinitely.  In this new world, it's anybody's guess.  Since Laurie left SAGA there doesn't seem to have been much happening to round up strays, and unless inhumane spays have been carried out by amateurs they appear to have stopped as well.  Give it a few months and I suspect the tops will come off the poison containers again - unless we can get the program rolling again.

[klcman]

Unless I am mistaken (I thought I was once before and THEN discovered I was wrong), another island blog, whose author is a stakeholder in all this mess,  reported a few days ago that 2 SAGA board memebers had stepped down.  Truth? Rumor? Seems to be a closly guarded secret........

[deadserious]

Unless I am mistaken (I thought I was once before and THEN discovered I was wrong), another island blog, whose author is a stakeholder in all this mess,  reported a few days ago that 2 SAGA board memebers had stepped down.  Truth? Rumor? Seems to be a closly guarded secret........

Link?

[Lilith]

When is the next eradication?

Thanks to the efforts of Laurie and (I believe) Ingrid that was postponed indefinitely.  In this new world, it's anybody's guess.  Since Laurie left SAGA there doesn't seem to have been much happening to round up strays, and unless inhumane spays have been carried out by amateurs they appear to have stopped as well.  Give it a few months and I suspect the tops will come off the poison containers again - unless we can get the program rolling again.

Where I come from, the villages are overrun by monkeys. Tourists find it interresting until a monkey lands on their shoulder and grabs their lunch. The stray dog population has to be controlled. It also seems that many people own dogs and can't afford to care for them. A pet is a responsibility. While eradication, aka euthanasia, seems barbaric, it is probably the only solution. I just think there has to be a better way than leaving poison meat around town and hoping the strays are the ones that eat it.

[bethieb]

Hell yeah there's a better way.   That is why Laurie the vet has scheduled a spay neuter day for the community pro bono coming up soon.   leaving poisoned meat around isn't what I'd call euthanasia.  its flat out barbaric killing with much needless suffering.   Tourists love that sort of thing too, big draw...

[Lilith]

Spaying and neutering does nothing to reduce the number of strays, nor does it eliminate their reproduction as the strays are not the ones being spayed and neutered. As for the pro bono aspect, that is very kind and generous of the vet, but people who can't afford her services shouldn't own a dog in the first place.

[bethieb]

Well perhaps we see things differently, there is room for all opinions.   If spay and neuter is done regularly on the stray population the stray numbers decrease rapidly.  In the interim, SAGA is ideally there to care for the sick and injured strays with its donations - utilizing vet services either in house or otherwise when the case calls for such.   The stray population is culled as to nonviable animals, those with infectious unrecoverable disease, etc.  It works that way no matter if you are in san francisco or san pedro.  the key is regular spay/neuter, community outreach, etc.  

I qualify my opinion in this regard with my 25 years of animal rescue/spay/neuter volunteer work I have done and still do.

As for your opinion that people who cannot afford the vet's services should not have pets, well, I personally don't believe I am qualified to say who has pets, kids, or fast cars, regardless of whether I think they can afford same.   But that is just me.