When we returned from our trip, I got in contact with the SPCA in Suva who confirmed that they are indeed faced with a huge challenge dealing with Fiji’s unwanted dog and cat population. The SPCA has limited resources, receives no government funding and has no full-time vet. Yet they are routinely faced with horrendous situations … dogs that have been injured, poisoned, abused, tortured, neglected, are sick, or are dying. On average, 180 animals (both dogs and cats) are brought into the shelter as strays or are surrendered (unwanted) by the owners per month. The SPCA simply cannot re-home them all and has to euthanize approximately 100 animals per month.
Below are photographs from the Fiji SPCA (reprinted with permission). Please note that you may find the images disturbing. I did. I even wondered whether to include them on the web site at all but in the end I decided that if this is the reality that the dogs are facing then we need to face it too.
A regular sighting of a Fiji street dog
Dog population estimates are proving hard to come by but we are guessing it is in the neighborhood of 14,000 on the island of Viti Levu alone. Of these, the SPCA estimates that 70% of dogs are owned and 30% or 4,200 are strays.
Hit by a car
“King” was hit by a car. He recovered fully thanks to the efforts of the SPCA.
Suspected parauat poison case
Paraquat is a herbicide that is highly toxic to humans and animals. As little as one teaspoon is fatal to a dog. It is a slow, painful death. From what I have read, there is no cure, no antidote. I don’t know what the fate was of this particular dog.
Although dog poisoning by regular folks is illegal in Fiji, according to Fiji’s Dogs Act, it is OK to poison dogs if you are an “authorised person”. But only between the hours of 8pm on one day and 5am the next day. (Yes I’m serious. You can read about it under the Poisoned Baits section.)
My understanding is that sodium monofluroacetate or 1080 is the poison used by Fijian officials. According to a dog baiting report on the Australian Government web site “the precise nature and extent of suffering after ingestion of 1080 is unknown, it is likely that the animal will experience distress and possibly pain during this initial stage. Signs of central nervous system disturbance including collapse, convulsions and tetanic spasms, then follow.”
Fleas, ticks & neglect
From the SPCA Facebook page, the notation says: “Left in the care of ignorant friends, this once healthy dog became so weak and debilitated from flea and tick infestation it was lucky to survive.” The dog did recover – again thanks to the efforts of the SPCA – and was adopted out to a home in Australia.
Dog with Demodectic mange
From what I have read, the prognosis for dogs with Demodectic mange is good providing they get the appropriate care.
Pups with Demodectic mange
These three pups were found on the side of the road. After two months of treatment, they were healthy and re-homed.
The incidents of dog suffering can be greatly reduced through spay and neuter efforts. There are lots of statistics out there with regards to how many pups one female dog can produce in her lifetime. I did an excel spreadsheet and assumed that if one female dog had two female pups and those two female pups had two female pups and so on, at two litters per year over seven years, there would be 65,000 dogs resulting from just that one female. Organizations such as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) publish a number of 67,000. Realistically though, the number has to be much lower. Otherwise, Fiji – with a guesstimate population of say 10,000 dogs on Viti Levu seven years ago – would now have a dog population closer to 655,000,000 which is not the case.
Regardless of what the actual number is however, there is no doubt that spaying one female will reduce her suffering and the suffering of dozens if not hundreds of her puppies.
