Vincent's Animal Welfare Fund

It's a long story...!

It was whilst on holiday at the recently opened Soho House Beach Club in Canouan, that a very sick stray dog captured our hearts.

Canouan, is an island forming part of the wider St Vincent & the Grenadines, a quarter of the size of better known Barbados, with only a beach club, Mandarin Oriental private estate and Sandy Lane Yacht Club. Only since our stay on the island did we learn the distinct difference between the wealth of visitors to the island and inferior living standards of the Vincentians living and working there; comparative to Barbados, as already mentioned, where the local living standards have vastly improved as a consequence of their thriving tourism. A vet, who we later introduce in this story, informed us that most of the local housing still have poor sanitation, leading to rat infestations, which increases the risk of leptospirosis and other diseases.

The extreme state of animal welfare was immediately obvious as we were transferred from the airport to Soho House. On that one journey alone, we glimpsed dogs completely naked of fur suffering from mange with sunburnt skin, dogs with broken legs and young puppies running freely along the roadside . The contrast between wealth and welfare was striking. The focus of this story is dogs, however, the island is also overpopulated with cats, but their starvation and suffering is not as blatant. Our hero vet did later inform us that cats are now better under control as a result of a spaying and neutering programme pre-covid. It became evident after many chats with locals throughout our stay that dogs were rarely viewed as pets and were not liked and to have sympathy with their suffering was difficult to understand as they could barely afford to feed their own children, let alone animals.

The dog, our protagonist, now affectionately known as ‘Vincent’ to us and anyone who knows of his story so far, stumbled into our lives, perhaps by fate, on 5 January 2023. That morning we went on a walking tour of the town, Charlestown (their Bridgetown equivalent), which culminated in us stopping by a local café, Captain Phil’s, situated on the beach, 100 metres adjacent to the beach club and on the pier where inter-island ferries docked daily. Our guide had intended us to stop at an earlier bakery for cinnamon buns, but the occupants were still asleep (island time...) – and fate again. As we walked in to order our tea (the hot drink hot climate concept still baffling to this day), Vincent trotted over, to try his luck begging. His condition was one of those harrowing images you carry with you for the rest of your day, a sense of guilt when we thought of our own dogs at home, living like royalty in comparison: he was skeletal, had puss seeping from his nose and eyes, one eye completely blocked – extremely sick, yet, the sweetest, gentlest and affectionate little boy, tail wagging bravely. Now knowing his list of conditions, how he was alive and would survive much longer is extraordinary. We put our first sausage order in for him that morning.

Kai, group A&E consultant and lifestyle doctor, despite lecturing us on longevity techniques, grew tired of the beach club’s breakfast acai bowls and papaya and honey servings and directed his attention to Captain Phil’s bacon, egg and cheese fried breakfast rolls. The following morning he placed his order plus an extra sausage serving for Vincent.

Now, there are a few people deserved of praise in this story, one being Nicola, who runs Captain Phil’s, which she set up following covid, and now manages alongside multiple catamaran and boat charters across the islands on her boats. We started talking to Nicola that morning about her own story and then, little Vincent’s. He had started showing up mid-November 2022, malnourished, but a markedly healthier and fuller looking dog, where he quickly learnt Nicola would look out for him and the more sympathetic of visitors to the café would throw him their scraps. The café became his safe-haven, surrounded by a picket fence brightly painted as is common in the Caribbean, where he would spend most of his days and nights curled up sleeping. However, Nicola went away most of December, and on her return his condition had deteriorated in her absence to the state we first encountered him in. Now, with a better understanding of the local view on dogs this is no surprise as there was nobody to look out for him. We think Vincent was abandoned, he has some affectionate qualities that it's difficult to believe any true stray would develop: he rests his paw on your leg or foot to ask for more head rubs and bury’s his head into the bend of your knee. We learnt from Nicola that dog abandonment is common; the turnaround of workers on the island is quick, they bring their dogs and then depart for work elsewhere leaving their dogs behind to fend for themselves and breed.

Another day went by, another bacon roll for Kai and another sausage for Vincent. On this visit we asked Nicola about support and interventions available from local charities and organisations for sickly animals in SVG. This is when we learnt that there was no animal welfare available on Canouan, including vets. She first mentioned the VSPCA, SVG’s equivalent to the RSPCA, operating from the main island of St Vincent. Later that day, Jess, film & tv lawyer and production manager, found the organisation on Facebook and posted a photo of Vincent on their page seeking help for him. Now the VSPCA seemed the ideal organisation based on their website, however we quickly and fundamentally learnt could not achieve anything substantial. Not to take all credit from them, as their heart and purpose is in the right place, but families willing to adopt in SVG are now saturated and they receive very limited funding, which if you believe them, is spent solely on transporting dogs for adoption between the island and the US. They would not take on any responsibility themselves for Vincent, but what we did garner from the post were vet suggestions and other organisations based on the other islands who could be of help. In fact, the VSPCA later advised us that the dog should be euthanised, which came as a shock.

That same day the afternoon humanitarian visits then began, resulting in a second daily sausage for Vincent from Colette, director of Alchemy by Effect Doctors. Nicola would leave dry kibble out for him, which he would not eat; adopting stray habits not eating or drinking from bowls. He would only drink rain water fallen on benches or if we poured water onto a bench, which he could then independently drink. Jess meanwhile had messaged one suggested vet, not our hero vet, on the main island, who unfortunately showed limited interest and we know now has less patience for charity cases.

The morning and afternoon sausage visits continued that weekend and we pursued a lead with the Mayreau Animal Welfare, where we were extremely fortunate to be in contact with Gill, who runs the organisation. With Nicola’s coordination too and fortune on our side, it just so happened that on Monday 9 January, Dan, their volunteer vet was making his way over from the UK to Mayreau for a couple of days and would jump off the ferry to quickly examine the dog. The following day, coincidentally, we had a boat trip planned to the Tobago Cays, which would stop in Mayreau for lunch, where we orchestrated meeting Becky, one of their extremely kind volunteers, to pick up all of the medicines Dan had prescribed for Vincent for a relatively small donation. Dan’s forecast wasn’t too promising, he didn’t expect Vincent to respond to the medicines as he was very poorly.

By now, unquestionably, we wanted Vincent back in Henley, safely adopted, and it was only Tommy, fourth member of the family, who was still warming to the fact he may well be taking Vincent to the local Henley pubs along with his pedigree Springer Spaniel and Doberman. We knew if he stood a chance of survival, despite Dan’s best intentions, he needed a veterinary space to recover on the main island before he could travel to the UK. You may well be wondering about the Mayreau organisation, however, sadly and understandably, Mayreau is also overrun with a dog issue, which is their focus, and they have reached their boarding capacity and are too limited by funding. However, we can confidently say that this organisation are saving and improving many dogs lives on that island and Gill has been a constant support throughout.

Racing against the clock with our return to the UK on Friday 13 January, buying the island out of sausages, we had to secure Vincent’s recovery. Perhaps our vested interest on Vincent, albeit well intended, brought with it negative energy and attention from the locals. His presence at the café was already costing Nicola trade, as locals were disgusted by his state. Those last few days we found him tied up behind boats and overheard comments from locals threatening to kill him. We learnt from Becky on Mayreau that locals inhumanely kill dogs by drowning them. This is where, hero vet, Eric Audain, enters. Known for his support of charitable causes and willingness to help voiceless animals he agreed not only to board Vincent on the main island for his recovery, but to also visit the island on Thursday to assess his condition and run a free clinic for others despite the lack of funding.

With Vincent’s life now in danger, we needed someone on the island to take him in in the interim until he could depart on Friday’s ferry to Eric. Our daily Vincent checks now included after-dinner; one evening we found locals lurking round him, passing comments “tomorrow he’ll be gone” and “six feet under”. One afternoon, as already mentioned, we found him deliberately tied up on a short string out of sight, and only for him recognising our voices did he bark so that we found him, otherwise he would likely have starved to death. Our friends from Henley, David and Mandy Gaynor, who happened to be staying at Sandy Lane, now also invested in Vincent’s story, having spent multiple dinners together where the conversation was dictated by events, made it their sole intention to find him his temporary safe haven. Having roped in the Sandy Lane manager, they found a volunteer and off Vincent went for his few nights of safety.

Vincent was diagnosed on Thursday with the following conditions: anaemia, lower respiratory system i.e. pneumonia, urinary tract infection, mange and fungus, internal parasite infestation, conjunctivitis and ulcer of the cornea. As we left the island, Vincent boarded the ferry for a better life in his crate, headed for a three – four week recovery programme with Eric needing daily aural, intravenous, dermatological, topical and eye treatments. There is the chance he may have already lost the sight in one of his eyes, likely caused by trauma.

It is with great sadness and our hearts broken, that Vincent passed away in his sleep during his recovery. On autopsy, Eric discovered he had a blood clot on his lung, something we wouldn’t have known about with resources available. It was most likely the result of excessive dehydration or trauma. The ending to Vincent’s own story makes it even more powerful and the drive for better animal welfare even more significant.

What Vincent’s story has highlighted and as Eric explained, the primary contributing factor to the state of dogs on the island is the lack of castration and neutering, also limited by the fact that locals who own their dogs cannot afford these veterinary fees. When their dogs become sick they often thrown them out onto the streets. There is also a risk of multiple conditions carried by dogs, which have the potential to transfer to humans when not appropriately managed, referred to as Zoonotic diseases, particularly of risk to those immuno supressed and pregnant. Jess, on hearing this, five months pregnant, and having spent hours scratching Vincent’s head the last week proceeded to quickly poor a bottle of anti-bac on her hands.

We discussed in length with Eric how we can improve these conditions for animals on Canouan and have agreed to set up a fund with the objective of saving as many lives as possible by: first and foremost supporting a fortnightly or monthly clinic on the island of Canouan, where Eric will neuter and spay strays and those whose owners can’t afford veterinary fees; he will also examine and treat their animals for other conditions. He will monitor the stray dogs and support treatment for any dogs similar to Vincent who need recovery and adoption. Once Canouan’s animal welfare is better under control, attention will then move to the island of St Vincent, where the situation is not too dissimilar, with clinics being held on a regular basis for strays and families struggling financially. Secondary to this, we hope to bring focus on education by targeting schools, who can instil and teach better values and appreciation of animals to the children. Eric has already established a cat adoption café on St Vincent, which has been successful in international adoptions and is also in need of support.

With the help of David and Mandy, we are speaking with Soho House and Sandy Lane on the island as they could also be instrumental to on-going funding; one of our ideas being, if the hotels would agree to lobby the government of SVG to add on an animal welfare levy to guest bills, along with the climate and community levies which already appear, or alternatively, ask for a donation when checking out. Our friends have written to the Prime Minister of SVG, who we hope to hold a Zoom meeting within the coming weeks to discuss this and obtain his support.

It all goes hand-in-hand, animal welfare will improve, if island conditions improve, along with education (only in recent years did the first school open on the island), and the support and awareness of the hotels and residencies and the government is forthcoming. Only by us choosing to explore the town that morning were we exposed to this story and with all the misfortune in the world right now, we hope this story inspires individuals to take small steps to effect change rather than be passers by.

Our longer-term goal will be to set up a charity, however, in the meantime we will support Eric’s clinic with this Go Fund Me page. The fund is called Vincent’s Animal Welfare Fund, in memory of the one we lost.

We have set up Facebook and Instagram pages for the clinic, where you can track progress and see where any donations are going. Please find us at Vincent’s Animal Welfare Fund:

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Dr Eric Audain – Audain’s Pet Health Care Centre, St Vincent.