Estafadores
In case the title of this post looks strange to you, it's just the Spanish word for "swindler." Anyone who has traveled outside the US knows you have to be constantly on your guard when you are obviously a tourist. Cuba is the same as most other countries--lots of locals are on the streets to try their cons on the visitors.
As an example of little cons, there's the guy who wants to show you where they make the cigars. He gets a little tip from the cigar factory, and if you buy any, you pay an inflated price. The guy who sat down next to me in the Central Park told me how his little brother is sick and needs milk to get well, but the store that sells milk only takes CUC's, convertible Cuban currency that the locals never have. A peanut vendor sells me a paper cone of nuts and tries to give me worthless old peso coins in change for a 1 CUC coin I gave him.
But recently I learned of bigger cons after bigger money and with far more sinister game plans. If you've read earlier blogs about Cuba the dog and Bella, you know we've devoted some time to rehoming street dogs to families in the north. An expensive and exacting activity, lots of time is needed to work out the details properly.
The usual situation is the tourist sees a street dog begging for food, and falls in love with him or her. That tourist goes home, finds our website, and we get emails asking if there is a way we can find that dog. Perhaps the dog is at a beach resort, a tourist area, or hanging around a hotel. If Aniplant gets involved, we can get veterinary help, a health certificate, and find a way to fly the animal to the US or Canada. Well that's a big job with Aniplant doing the work, but it can be done. We've taken on a number of such projects. Except for the emotional appeal of saving "that little hungry dog I found on vacation," it would be far more efficient to stop by your local shelter and have your choice of breeds, colors, sizes, and ages.
The big swindles can come if the tourist makes that commitment to the dog with only a few days left before he or she must leave and then is forced to rely on strangers to try to keep the dog temporarily, get it vet care, and get it to the airport when you can arrange a ticket to fly it to you. "No problem," the pressed tourist says, "I can pay for any expenses involved" to the helpful stranger near the hotel.
"No problem", says the casual thief, "I am a dog lover, I have a clean place for him to stay, and I know a great vet." The tourist thinks to himself, "someone is up there really looking out for me."
I have no doubt the park swindler with the sick little brother would also immediately offer to give a dog a good temporary home and get him to one of the best vets in town. Like the great retailer, Marshall Field, whose motto was, "give the lady what she wants."
And about how much for a couple of weeks' or a month's fostering, food, vet, etc.? Maybe 300 or 400 CUC's (about 1 CUC per $) will do for now, and the tourist is sure he or she can find a way to send more if there are delays before he is flown to north. The tourist and the thief write down their addresses, phones, even emails, but a week later if you go to that address, the little dog will be gone.
Sue, who didn't initially know about Aniplant, contacted us after returning home, and, at my suggestion, asked Nora to check on the Dachshund dog, Diva, and its "foster home" that she had arranged. The wife of the guy she found in the park gave up the dog to Nora (see picture of the Diva substitute), and Nora emailed its picture to Sue. Guess what? Wrong dog! When they knew a real animal protector was coming, they found a different dog to give to her.
Normally, Nora is very careful to be sure she is receiving the right dog, but the email Sue had sent with pictures went astray, and Nora was flying blind when she got to the house with no idea of what the first dog looked like. But still, the dog needed to be removed from this home--the place wasn't suitable for housing a dog.
Sue, a good soul who had placed many dogs in the past, wants to take both dogs if Diva, the first dog, can be found again. It's bad enough when a dog is abandoned in a strange place by the swindler for easy money, but it can be a death sentence for the dog. At least when street dogs are in familiar environs, they can eke out a living begging for food. Right now we don't know where the first dog is, but we're looking.
In another case, we heard of a traveler who came back to Cuba to get the dog for which she had made casual arrangements with a street person, and found the caretaker demanding a large additional payment--basically a ransom demand.
And even if you aren't swindled and inexperienced people don't handle the dog's paperwork carefully, the dog can be held at the flight destination and possibly even killed by Customs. This could happen even after a successful fostering by a well-meaning friend.
Dogs, cats, cigars, peanut vendors, milk for my little brother--all seem to attract swindlers to scam the tourists' money. Frankly, rehoming a street dog isn't a good idea even when you have qualified help, but how do you tell that to a recent traveler who fell in love with a dog a couple of weeks ago when she was in Cuba?
Les Inglis
Friday, July 15, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Imagine
Imagine
Imagine you wake to find yourself on the streets of a large city, hungry and scared. You don't seem to have any connections there, and you don't have any idea of where you fit in. There seem to be two kinds of people on the streets and they don't all talk alike. But some, the minority, seem to have more than enough to eat, and they often throw away leftovers. If you're lucky enough to be around when they throw food away, that's what you eat. If not, your old companion, hunge,r always hovers nearby.
Your leg hurts from a run in with a car, and you limp a little. You wonder if it will ever be much better, but at least you did learn to cross the street when people do to avoid other mishaps with cars.
You've learned there are a few people on the streets who like you--even pet you and feed you scraps. You've learned these are usually same the people who look well fed, and you learn to hang out in the part of town where the kinder people congregate. You like them, but they usually walk away. Your beat is hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.
You can't remember a family or a real home. You remember a little of your mom, and you haven't seen her in a long time. Your memory is more of her smell and feel than what she really looked like. But that's all in the past now--you really don't expect to see her ever again, and that cute little bunch of brothers and sisters you were with were picked up by men in a truck never to be seen again. You wonder if you were lucky the men missed you that day. When there is little food, you're not so sure you were lucky to have been overlooked.
One day a well fed find man paid far more attention to you than you expected, and your life began to change. That man was a tourist, but he picked you up, gave you food and a temporary home and even a bath and lots of medical care. They made your leg stop hurting. You had changed from street dog to companion animal. You learned you had a name, Fidelity, and your temporary caretakers trained you to a cage and a leash. But after several days you wondered where was the kind man who changed your life?
One day a lady picked you up in a car and drove 2 hours to an airport. There they all seemed to make a fuss over you as papers, tickets, and health certificates were bandied about. Finally, stowed in a travel carrier and accompanied by lots of baggage, you are placed in a pressurized, air-conditioned baggage compartment for a 6 hour long, dark and noisy transfer to Toronto Canada.
You felt a spark of recognition as the kind man met the plane around midnight. Others gathered around including reporters flashing their cameras, and suddenly that strange, far away, inhospitable city became a distant memory.
You had one more long flight from Toronto the New Orleans to reach your new forever home with the kind man where you'll never lack for food or medical care or love and companionship again.
Imagine if all street dogs had a good home.
Les Inglis
PS Fidelity arrives at his new home on the same day as this posting.
Imagine you wake to find yourself on the streets of a large city, hungry and scared. You don't seem to have any connections there, and you don't have any idea of where you fit in. There seem to be two kinds of people on the streets and they don't all talk alike. But some, the minority, seem to have more than enough to eat, and they often throw away leftovers. If you're lucky enough to be around when they throw food away, that's what you eat. If not, your old companion, hunge,r always hovers nearby.
Your leg hurts from a run in with a car, and you limp a little. You wonder if it will ever be much better, but at least you did learn to cross the street when people do to avoid other mishaps with cars.
You've learned there are a few people on the streets who like you--even pet you and feed you scraps. You've learned these are usually same the people who look well fed, and you learn to hang out in the part of town where the kinder people congregate. You like them, but they usually walk away. Your beat is hotels, restaurants and tourist attractions.
You can't remember a family or a real home. You remember a little of your mom, and you haven't seen her in a long time. Your memory is more of her smell and feel than what she really looked like. But that's all in the past now--you really don't expect to see her ever again, and that cute little bunch of brothers and sisters you were with were picked up by men in a truck never to be seen again. You wonder if you were lucky the men missed you that day. When there is little food, you're not so sure you were lucky to have been overlooked.
One day a well fed find man paid far more attention to you than you expected, and your life began to change. That man was a tourist, but he picked you up, gave you food and a temporary home and even a bath and lots of medical care. They made your leg stop hurting. You had changed from street dog to companion animal. You learned you had a name, Fidelity, and your temporary caretakers trained you to a cage and a leash. But after several days you wondered where was the kind man who changed your life?
One day a lady picked you up in a car and drove 2 hours to an airport. There they all seemed to make a fuss over you as papers, tickets, and health certificates were bandied about. Finally, stowed in a travel carrier and accompanied by lots of baggage, you are placed in a pressurized, air-conditioned baggage compartment for a 6 hour long, dark and noisy transfer to Toronto Canada.
You felt a spark of recognition as the kind man met the plane around midnight. Others gathered around including reporters flashing their cameras, and suddenly that strange, far away, inhospitable city became a distant memory.
You had one more long flight from Toronto the New Orleans to reach your new forever home with the kind man where you'll never lack for food or medical care or love and companionship again.
Imagine if all street dogs had a good home.
Les Inglis
PS Fidelity arrives at his new home on the same day as this posting.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
My Little Black Book
My Little Black Book
After six years of working with Aniplant, a Cuban organization that protects animals, I have developed an interesting address book of people who have their own links to Cuba. I get calls, here and there, from people who do interesting things in Cuba, sometimes for animals, sometimes for humanitarian projects, and some even for religious work in Cuba.
The first contact in my address book I found browsing on the Internet. I had had a friend, Margaret, who visited Cuba as part of an educational tour to Havana. This was before George Bush cut off such educational contacts. I have always been curious about Cuba, and I wanted to visit there, but Bush moved faster than I did, and tours like the one Margaret took were terminated by the US Government before I could arrange one. But my Internet browsing found Rick Schwag, President of Caribbean Medical Transport, an idiosyncratic lover of The Pearl of the Antilles.
Rick had a license from the US Government to affiliate with people and authorize their trips to Cuba for humanitarian purposes. Thus began our adventure helping Cuban animals. Rick still helps Cuba by sending shipping containers full of donated mattresses, bicycles, wheelchairs, medicines, etc.
Another important contact in my address book is Alex Vicente, my travel agent. Alex is a Cuban American, makes several trips a year from Miami to Havana, and his travel agency, ABC Charters of Miami, arranges charter flights on a regular schedule back and forth to Havana. Many people think travel to Cuba is illegal, but it's not--it's just complicated. Alex can help anyone going for the right reasons.
A woman named Darci Gallati who lives in Canada found her way into my address book. Her organization, Candi International, is a charity that helps people fly newly adopted animals out of the Caribbean to new homes in the north. That activity, too, is complicated, but they're good at it and have made many families more complete with loving adopted companion animals.
My address book is replete with names of veterinarians and vet techs who have traveled to Cuba and participated in Nora's traveling weekend sterilization campaigns--names like Sylvia McAllister, Scott and Paula Mather, Dr. Dick White, and others who have spread their skills far beyond the neighborhoods where they keep their offices.
I could go on for many pages, but you get the idea. This is not just a few animal lovers trying to do good things; it's a huge informal network of good people who have had the kindness to focus on Cuba and make a difference for the animals and people there.
Les Inglis
After six years of working with Aniplant, a Cuban organization that protects animals, I have developed an interesting address book of people who have their own links to Cuba. I get calls, here and there, from people who do interesting things in Cuba, sometimes for animals, sometimes for humanitarian projects, and some even for religious work in Cuba.
The first contact in my address book I found browsing on the Internet. I had had a friend, Margaret, who visited Cuba as part of an educational tour to Havana. This was before George Bush cut off such educational contacts. I have always been curious about Cuba, and I wanted to visit there, but Bush moved faster than I did, and tours like the one Margaret took were terminated by the US Government before I could arrange one. But my Internet browsing found Rick Schwag, President of Caribbean Medical Transport, an idiosyncratic lover of The Pearl of the Antilles.
Rick had a license from the US Government to affiliate with people and authorize their trips to Cuba for humanitarian purposes. Thus began our adventure helping Cuban animals. Rick still helps Cuba by sending shipping containers full of donated mattresses, bicycles, wheelchairs, medicines, etc.
Another important contact in my address book is Alex Vicente, my travel agent. Alex is a Cuban American, makes several trips a year from Miami to Havana, and his travel agency, ABC Charters of Miami, arranges charter flights on a regular schedule back and forth to Havana. Many people think travel to Cuba is illegal, but it's not--it's just complicated. Alex can help anyone going for the right reasons.
A woman named Darci Gallati who lives in Canada found her way into my address book. Her organization, Candi International, is a charity that helps people fly newly adopted animals out of the Caribbean to new homes in the north. That activity, too, is complicated, but they're good at it and have made many families more complete with loving adopted companion animals.
My address book is replete with names of veterinarians and vet techs who have traveled to Cuba and participated in Nora's traveling weekend sterilization campaigns--names like Sylvia McAllister, Scott and Paula Mather, Dr. Dick White, and others who have spread their skills far beyond the neighborhoods where they keep their offices.
I could go on for many pages, but you get the idea. This is not just a few animal lovers trying to do good things; it's a huge informal network of good people who have had the kindness to focus on Cuba and make a difference for the animals and people there.
Les Inglis
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Iron Curtain Remnants
Iron Curtain Remnants
I guess there isn't any iron curtain anymore, and its disappearance has lost for us a big subject of curiosity. Most of us never did venture beyond the iron curtain when it did exist, and now satisfying that curiosity isn't even possible. Well, that is if you don't count Cuba.
Cuba happily placed itself behind that curtain shortly after its successful revolution in 1959. They adopted communist ways and we all watched as their gradual separation from our western world took place. Pretty soon it was hard to get there, even though the island is almost our closest neighbor.
Even today, vestiges of life on the other side of the iron curtin remain. On the streets are an inordinate number of Ladas, a little Russian car that looks like a Fiat and doesn't work any better, either. Cars are precious in Cuba, and if one breaks down, it is repaired by any means possible. Cars are never junked, and local mechanics give them more lives than a cat.
But it isn't just the old cars that hint at the iron curtain. Cuba has a fleet of taxis as modern as any. For the most part they are Kias and Hyundais. A few newer Peugeots can be seen as well. These South Korean and French cars come from the western side of the iron curtain, but it is the absence of modern US cars that tells us of the long years of curtained separation.
By far the most impressive vehicles you can see in Cuba today are the new Yutong buses which come from China. They are streamlined, comfortable, quiet, and ubiquitous. It would be hard to find a bus in the US today that matches them as they move tourists to all parts of the island. They pull up and idle at Havana's big hotels while hordes of Brits, Germans, Spanish, and French board, deboard, and move their luggage around. The omnipresence of Yutong buses speaks to the growing influence of China in today's Cuban life.
Yes, if you look, you can still see vestiges of the iron curtain in Cuba, but it is a different country today than it was in the years before the Soviet Union self destructed. Then it was a secretive, cloistered place suspicious of strangers, while today's Cuba courts tourists from anywhere and moves them around their lovely island in the most beautiful buses you've ever seen.
Les Inglis
I guess there isn't any iron curtain anymore, and its disappearance has lost for us a big subject of curiosity. Most of us never did venture beyond the iron curtain when it did exist, and now satisfying that curiosity isn't even possible. Well, that is if you don't count Cuba.
Cuba happily placed itself behind that curtain shortly after its successful revolution in 1959. They adopted communist ways and we all watched as their gradual separation from our western world took place. Pretty soon it was hard to get there, even though the island is almost our closest neighbor.
Even today, vestiges of life on the other side of the iron curtin remain. On the streets are an inordinate number of Ladas, a little Russian car that looks like a Fiat and doesn't work any better, either. Cars are precious in Cuba, and if one breaks down, it is repaired by any means possible. Cars are never junked, and local mechanics give them more lives than a cat.
But it isn't just the old cars that hint at the iron curtain. Cuba has a fleet of taxis as modern as any. For the most part they are Kias and Hyundais. A few newer Peugeots can be seen as well. These South Korean and French cars come from the western side of the iron curtain, but it is the absence of modern US cars that tells us of the long years of curtained separation.
By far the most impressive vehicles you can see in Cuba today are the new Yutong buses which come from China. They are streamlined, comfortable, quiet, and ubiquitous. It would be hard to find a bus in the US today that matches them as they move tourists to all parts of the island. They pull up and idle at Havana's big hotels while hordes of Brits, Germans, Spanish, and French board, deboard, and move their luggage around. The omnipresence of Yutong buses speaks to the growing influence of China in today's Cuban life.
Yes, if you look, you can still see vestiges of the iron curtain in Cuba, but it is a different country today than it was in the years before the Soviet Union self destructed. Then it was a secretive, cloistered place suspicious of strangers, while today's Cuba courts tourists from anywhere and moves them around their lovely island in the most beautiful buses you've ever seen.
Les Inglis
Friday, May 27, 2011
A Better Answer
A Better Answer
If you're a Canadian, you don't have any tropical vacation spots in your own country--you have to plan international travel to sit on a beach under a palm tree and enjoy the sound of the waves and the feel of the breeze. So you get on a plane, and if you don't want to go further than necessary, you land in Cuba, The Pearl of the Antilles, and the former crown jewel in the Spanish Empire. And the beaches are spectacular, the weather perfect, and the people are friendly. No wonder so many Canadians make the trip. There are no travel restrictions to fight as we have to do here in the US.
Most Canadians love their vacations in Cuba, and few have anything negative to say about their holidays there. One exception we hear is that many deplore the large number of street dogs and strays they see in Cuba. Like other third world places, animals don't get much humane treatment there. But a number of Canadians with kind hearts want to do something about the strays. Often they take pity on the stray and try to arrange its adoption and move back to Canada when they get back home.
Too often we get calls about a dog or a puppy near a resort that is accepting handout food from the tourists and seems to beg to be adopted and taken far away to a new home.
It's hard to counsel people who've allowed some hungry little dog to steal their heart, and who've searched the Internet for someone to help save the unfortunate little animal. But we feel obligated to educate these good-hearted people in the realities of saving the street dogs of Cuba. To arrange a successful adoption and transport takes much more time and money than you might think.
First there's the problem of finding the animal, and then you have to verify that it doesn't have an owner. If this takes place in many parts of Cuba, that might mean a long round trip from Havana for a vet or a volunteer. It could take two trips to find the right dog and bring it to Havana.
Then there's arranging a foster home for at least two weeks, vet exams, deparisitazions, more vet tests, waiting for test results, and arranging air transportation back to Canada. Most of these projects cost more than $500 in expenses before the dog is put on a plane (and this number does not include air transportation charges).
Yes, it might be nice to bring that little lovable animal into your home and to be able to tell your friends of the sad plight he or she faced when found. But for all that time and expense, how much more have you done to reduce animal suffering than if you had visited your local animal shelter and picked out a healthy, life-long friend from a huge range of breeds, sizes, shapes and colors?
No, as much as we all want to help save a hungry street dog from his stark, unhappy street life, we have to realize that isn't always the best answer. We need to stay focused on our main activity, conducting massive spay-neuter campaigns. That, at least, helps street animals by drastically reducing their numbers.
When we discourage these kind souls who want to help, it isn't for lack of compassion--we've got it in spades--it's because we have a better answer. We don't want to seem callous, but we have to focus our energies where we can do the most good for Cuba's animals.
Les Inglis
If you're a Canadian, you don't have any tropical vacation spots in your own country--you have to plan international travel to sit on a beach under a palm tree and enjoy the sound of the waves and the feel of the breeze. So you get on a plane, and if you don't want to go further than necessary, you land in Cuba, The Pearl of the Antilles, and the former crown jewel in the Spanish Empire. And the beaches are spectacular, the weather perfect, and the people are friendly. No wonder so many Canadians make the trip. There are no travel restrictions to fight as we have to do here in the US.
Most Canadians love their vacations in Cuba, and few have anything negative to say about their holidays there. One exception we hear is that many deplore the large number of street dogs and strays they see in Cuba. Like other third world places, animals don't get much humane treatment there. But a number of Canadians with kind hearts want to do something about the strays. Often they take pity on the stray and try to arrange its adoption and move back to Canada when they get back home.
Too often we get calls about a dog or a puppy near a resort that is accepting handout food from the tourists and seems to beg to be adopted and taken far away to a new home.
It's hard to counsel people who've allowed some hungry little dog to steal their heart, and who've searched the Internet for someone to help save the unfortunate little animal. But we feel obligated to educate these good-hearted people in the realities of saving the street dogs of Cuba. To arrange a successful adoption and transport takes much more time and money than you might think.
First there's the problem of finding the animal, and then you have to verify that it doesn't have an owner. If this takes place in many parts of Cuba, that might mean a long round trip from Havana for a vet or a volunteer. It could take two trips to find the right dog and bring it to Havana.
Then there's arranging a foster home for at least two weeks, vet exams, deparisitazions, more vet tests, waiting for test results, and arranging air transportation back to Canada. Most of these projects cost more than $500 in expenses before the dog is put on a plane (and this number does not include air transportation charges).
Yes, it might be nice to bring that little lovable animal into your home and to be able to tell your friends of the sad plight he or she faced when found. But for all that time and expense, how much more have you done to reduce animal suffering than if you had visited your local animal shelter and picked out a healthy, life-long friend from a huge range of breeds, sizes, shapes and colors?
No, as much as we all want to help save a hungry street dog from his stark, unhappy street life, we have to realize that isn't always the best answer. We need to stay focused on our main activity, conducting massive spay-neuter campaigns. That, at least, helps street animals by drastically reducing their numbers.
When we discourage these kind souls who want to help, it isn't for lack of compassion--we've got it in spades--it's because we have a better answer. We don't want to seem callous, but we have to focus our energies where we can do the most good for Cuba's animals.
Les Inglis
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Our Cost Rican Connection
Our Costa Rican Connection
You've heard lots in these blogs about Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President. Nora is the central nervous system of animal protection in Cuba. But this time I want to write about another woman who has played an indispensable role in our work in Cuba.
Lilian Schnog is a Dutch woman who comes from Aruba. Years ago she and her husband, Ben, made the move from Aruba to Costa Rica, settling into a beautiful home halfway up a mountain, near the capital, San Jose. Many years ago, I was a Director of HSUS at the time I first heard of Lilian. John Hoyt, HSUS's President and I were talking about the formation of HSI, Humane Society International, when he told me he was making a quick trip to Florida. Lilian had called him and wanted to meet and talk with him about some problems at the WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) shelter near her home where she volunteered her time to help the animals.
John met with Lilian and agreed there should be changes at the shelter. Lilian was willing to make a major contribution to acquire the WSPA shelter and animal hospital if she had the support of HSUS, which Hoyt was willing to promise. Her plan was put into effect, and Lilian replaced WSPA's shelter manager and began to run the enterprise, certainly in a more humane fashion.
About that time I made two trips to Costa Rica and was able to see the changes for myself. Lilian was in charge, doing really important work, and HSI had people visiting to advise on improving the animal hospital function. Over the years, HSI and AHPPA, (Asociación Humana Para la Protección de Animales), Lilian's shelter, have maintained their association and in a recent year, Lilian was awarded HSI's highest honor for animal protectors.
When we wanted to supply anesthesia medicines, to Aniplant's spay-neuter campaigns, we needed a source of the meds and a way to get them into Cuba reliably. Lilian did some checking and found out there are no restrictions on trade between Cuba and Costa Rica. She works regularly with a distributor of medicines who exports to Cuba. So our problems were solved. If we could pay for the needed meds, Lilian could buy them and have them shipped to Nora in Cuba. We've done this several times now, and we have a reliable, legal way to ship drugs that Nora cannot otherwise acquire. Also, both Lilian and Nora are certified as persons who can buy, store, and handle controlled substances, which many of the drugs we buy are.
There are many wonderful people who work to help animals. Some are right in our home towns and some are spread out across the globe. We, and the dogs and cats of Cuba, are fortunate to have Lilian Schnog as a friend and a participant in what we are doing in Cuba.
Les Inglis
You've heard lots in these blogs about Nora Garcia, Aniplant's President. Nora is the central nervous system of animal protection in Cuba. But this time I want to write about another woman who has played an indispensable role in our work in Cuba.
Lilian Schnog is a Dutch woman who comes from Aruba. Years ago she and her husband, Ben, made the move from Aruba to Costa Rica, settling into a beautiful home halfway up a mountain, near the capital, San Jose. Many years ago, I was a Director of HSUS at the time I first heard of Lilian. John Hoyt, HSUS's President and I were talking about the formation of HSI, Humane Society International, when he told me he was making a quick trip to Florida. Lilian had called him and wanted to meet and talk with him about some problems at the WSPA (World Society for Protection of Animals) shelter near her home where she volunteered her time to help the animals.
John met with Lilian and agreed there should be changes at the shelter. Lilian was willing to make a major contribution to acquire the WSPA shelter and animal hospital if she had the support of HSUS, which Hoyt was willing to promise. Her plan was put into effect, and Lilian replaced WSPA's shelter manager and began to run the enterprise, certainly in a more humane fashion.
About that time I made two trips to Costa Rica and was able to see the changes for myself. Lilian was in charge, doing really important work, and HSI had people visiting to advise on improving the animal hospital function. Over the years, HSI and AHPPA, (Asociación Humana Para la Protección de Animales), Lilian's shelter, have maintained their association and in a recent year, Lilian was awarded HSI's highest honor for animal protectors.
When we wanted to supply anesthesia medicines, to Aniplant's spay-neuter campaigns, we needed a source of the meds and a way to get them into Cuba reliably. Lilian did some checking and found out there are no restrictions on trade between Cuba and Costa Rica. She works regularly with a distributor of medicines who exports to Cuba. So our problems were solved. If we could pay for the needed meds, Lilian could buy them and have them shipped to Nora in Cuba. We've done this several times now, and we have a reliable, legal way to ship drugs that Nora cannot otherwise acquire. Also, both Lilian and Nora are certified as persons who can buy, store, and handle controlled substances, which many of the drugs we buy are.
There are many wonderful people who work to help animals. Some are right in our home towns and some are spread out across the globe. We, and the dogs and cats of Cuba, are fortunate to have Lilian Schnog as a friend and a participant in what we are doing in Cuba.
Les Inglis
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Doggie Bags
Doggie Bags
Walk around the older parts of Havana and you'll conclude that Cubans spend lots of time sitting on their front stoops. It doesn't matter that the front door is open, as most of these houses don't have air-conditioning. So the door and most of the windows are open, and the owner sits on the step up to the front door with his feet out on the sidewalk.
And the family dog? He's inside unless it's time for him to go out. Then he just lets himself out. The owner doesn't worry about the dog getting lost because he knows the dog will show up at dinner time when his food is set out or even sooner when it's time to get in the shade to avoid the hot sun. So the whole thing about keeping a dog is a pretty casual affair, both on the owner's aprt and on the part of the dog.
Dogs in Cuba almost always get the table scraps from the family's dinner table. You can't buy commercial dog food there unless you're very rich or have CUC's (tourist money) to spend. Neither CUC's nor riches are common in the hands of Cuban people, so table scraps it is for the dog. A few lucky dogs are fed a cooked down mixture of rough rice and slaughterhouse waste (fat, scraps, brains, eyeballs, etc, etc.) That's what the eight dogs who live at Aniplant's headquarters get.
You may already have asked yourself how you can tell if a dog on the street is a family pet or a stray. I'm sorry to say there is no certain test, as Cuban dogs seldom sport collars or ID tags. One not very accurate test is to look at his body. If the ribs are not easy to see, it might be someone's pet, just out for a little pit stop.
No Cuban leaves food on plates in a restaurant, and when I'm there I don't either. You ask for a foam plastic box or perhaps carry a supply of plastic shopping bags like Nora does. Cubans define "doggie bags" better than anywhere else. Here is a country full of animal lovers who share their scant provisions with their animal companions.
When I walk away from a restaurant with a plastic box full of leftovers, I immediately look for a hungry animal, but then I'm faced with the question, which dogs are pets being fed, and which are truly needy street dogs. And one should not make quick decisions in that situation. If I see a dog near a stoop sitter, I ask if that's his dog. I wouldn't want anyone feeding my dogs something, and he probably wouldn't either. I'll offer the owner some of my leftovers if he wants, but I'm really looking for an animal whose ribs are showing. When I find one and no apparent owner is near, there's little difficulty in getting him to eat.
I'm thinking , "Good, now I don't have to carry this box of leftovers around," and the dog is thinking, "Good, now I don't have to be hungry all day."
Les Inglis
Walk around the older parts of Havana and you'll conclude that Cubans spend lots of time sitting on their front stoops. It doesn't matter that the front door is open, as most of these houses don't have air-conditioning. So the door and most of the windows are open, and the owner sits on the step up to the front door with his feet out on the sidewalk.
And the family dog? He's inside unless it's time for him to go out. Then he just lets himself out. The owner doesn't worry about the dog getting lost because he knows the dog will show up at dinner time when his food is set out or even sooner when it's time to get in the shade to avoid the hot sun. So the whole thing about keeping a dog is a pretty casual affair, both on the owner's aprt and on the part of the dog.
Dogs in Cuba almost always get the table scraps from the family's dinner table. You can't buy commercial dog food there unless you're very rich or have CUC's (tourist money) to spend. Neither CUC's nor riches are common in the hands of Cuban people, so table scraps it is for the dog. A few lucky dogs are fed a cooked down mixture of rough rice and slaughterhouse waste (fat, scraps, brains, eyeballs, etc, etc.) That's what the eight dogs who live at Aniplant's headquarters get.
You may already have asked yourself how you can tell if a dog on the street is a family pet or a stray. I'm sorry to say there is no certain test, as Cuban dogs seldom sport collars or ID tags. One not very accurate test is to look at his body. If the ribs are not easy to see, it might be someone's pet, just out for a little pit stop.
No Cuban leaves food on plates in a restaurant, and when I'm there I don't either. You ask for a foam plastic box or perhaps carry a supply of plastic shopping bags like Nora does. Cubans define "doggie bags" better than anywhere else. Here is a country full of animal lovers who share their scant provisions with their animal companions.
When I walk away from a restaurant with a plastic box full of leftovers, I immediately look for a hungry animal, but then I'm faced with the question, which dogs are pets being fed, and which are truly needy street dogs. And one should not make quick decisions in that situation. If I see a dog near a stoop sitter, I ask if that's his dog. I wouldn't want anyone feeding my dogs something, and he probably wouldn't either. I'll offer the owner some of my leftovers if he wants, but I'm really looking for an animal whose ribs are showing. When I find one and no apparent owner is near, there's little difficulty in getting him to eat.
I'm thinking , "Good, now I don't have to carry this box of leftovers around," and the dog is thinking, "Good, now I don't have to be hungry all day."
Les Inglis
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