Recently, through a friend, Mary Soodeen (who is somewhat of a locally-based patron saint of animals), my dog Venus and I met Akimi, a skinny, friendly young dog with a high-pitched yelp. That Saturday she and Venus had fun romping for hours in the mud created by recent rainfall.
Little did these playmates know . . . the next day Akimi would be on a flight to New York to be reunited with her new owners–a vacationing American family who had encountered her at Pigeon Point and, after a few days of feeding and playing with her, had fallen in love.
The day before the family was due to return to the States, as if knowing this would be her last chance, the small dog had followed them back to their lodgings, pulling playfully at their daughter's dress to make her message clear: "Take me with you!"
With help from Mary, who is a pro at arranging for adopted dogs to be flown out of Tobago, the family did the necessary paperwork . . . and the rest is history.
Some may say that it is better to leave the dogs where they are on the streets or beach, but, as Mary Soodeen points out: "In Tobago, life for a stray Tobago terrier is often not good or healthy. To most people they are a nuisance on beaches and wherever they hang out to get some food. Most times they have stones thrown at them or the females are constantly pregnant, while the act itself gives lots of the males and females cancer. Or they are poisoned, which is a painful death. Getting someone to adopt and give them a forever home is the answer, whether here or abroad."
Heartwarming examples of other dogs that have become well-loved 'living Tobago souvenirs' include:
RIGGS: Found in the Tobago rainforest. Now lives on eight wooded acres in the Catskill Mountains of New York and was the ring bearer at the wedding of the couple who adopted him.
GILPEN: From Tobago rainforest. Now living happily in Cambridge, UK.
PIGGLES: Found on Turtle Beach, jetted to Germany via Condor and collected by her new owners who drove from the UK through the Chunnel to collect her in Frankfurt.
DEXTER: Found with a bad chop wound to his eye and flown to a vet clinic in London for a successful eye operation. Living happily in the UK.
LASSIE: Was scheduled to fly to new owners in London, but ended up staying in Tobago, as her local foster parents had fallen in love with her.
MIMI: A timid 'stray dog' who went to live in Yorkshire and is now a perky, frisky canine companion for three dalmatians.
TOBAGO: Originally from Buccoo Beach, he now enjoys life in Germany.
SPY DOG: Found 'spying' on a family from Trinidad as they holidayed at Stone Haven. Upon returning to Trinidad they missed him so much that they arranged to fly him back to Trinidad to live with them.
BOBBY: From Castara. Swiss couple who witnessed him being attached by a pitbull took him back to Switzerland. He is now a much-loved member of their Funky Dance Company and attends yoga classes.
NINA: Found in Castara with a broken leg that had mended incorrectly, she was adopted by Steffi from Germany and flown to 'Deutschland' where she underwent an operation and is able to walk properly again
.
SKIP: A badly neglected Parlatuvier dog with skin problems, now happily settled in Suffolk, UK with his new owner and two other dogs, Daisy and Tina.
Happily ever after.