Nalini Dial, founder of Animals are Human Too in T&T, has claimed she was ejected from the San Fernando dog pound when she went to adopt all its healthy animals yesterday.
Dial, in an interview, said she and fellow animal rights activist Nasif Mohammed went to the pound which is located on Lady Hailes Avenue, around 9.30 am. She said she was allowed into the compound, but tensions rose when she told the workers that she had requested media coverage for her purchase. "We were put out and the gates to the cemetery were locked," she said. "The pound keeper was given instructions via telephone to close the pound immediately.
"We were unable to do anything and the people who were there to adopt dogs couldn't." Dial said she counted 49 dogs which were kept in six-foot by six-foot kennels. Each kennel housed ten dogs and she alleged that they were being fed one daily meal of bread and water. "Forty of the dogs were adoptable and I was willing to pay the adoption fee ($3,680) for all 40," she said.
"We were treated in a very inhumane and hostile manner, but we are returning very early in the morning and we are asking all those people who tried to adopt the dogs to also return." Noting that 40 of the dogs were supposed to be killed yesterday, Dial called on the Government to intervene in what she referred to as a retrograde step. "We were able to get a stay of execution from the City Corporation, but we do not know for how long," she said.
On Monday, San Fernando deputy mayor Dr Navi Muradali was appointed by Mayor Marlene Coudray to manage the dog pound.
When contacted, he declined to comment on Dial's claim, saying that although he visited the pound for a short time while she was there, he was there for his "own reasons."
He said, however, that there were 15 healthy dogs at the facility and animal lovers had already started to make purchases.
Muradali said a few people had already paid for dogs and that some of them were scheduled to return to the pound today to collect their pets. "All of our decisions must go to the (San Fernando) City Council for approval but we are trying to put new arrangements in place by working with different NGOs to find homes for the dogs," he said.
