Kouchi pa Bestia at the Animal Shelter Bonaire

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Marlies in Current Activities | Comments Off

Kouchi pa Bestia

Did you know that you can drop off unwanted, stray or found cats or dogs at the Bonaire Animal Shelter at any time of the day or night, no questions asked? There’s an animal cage (Kouchi pa Bestia) right outside the Shelter gate. It has two separate compartments with water bowls and it’s checked every few hours during the day.

The Shelter receives an average of 1,200 animals each year and the idea is to make it easy as possible for people to put the animals there rather than dump them in the mondi or by the side of the road.

Mae, Miller and Owen raised money for the Bonaire Shelter

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Marlies in Sponsors & Friends | Comments Off

Mae Corrigan from New Jersey, USA loves dogs

Mae Corrigan from New Jersey, USA and her two brothers, Miller (Mae’s twin, age 11) and Owen (age 12) have been painting shells that they found on the beach during the last few months.

These beautiful shells have been sold to raise money for their donation to the Bonaire Animal Shelter.

Three months ago the Corrigan family was scuba diving in Bonaire and they saw many stray dogs. This year they decided to read about the shelter in Bonaire and wanted to help these stray dogs. This week they paid a visit to the shelter and gave us an envelope of the money they have collected.

Mae and her brothers Miller and Owen

Thanks very much Mae, Miller and Owen for helping the dogs of Bonaire!!

Drop off cage is working well

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Marlies in News | Comments Off

As you can see, in the case of Floricita and other cats and dogs, the Shelter’s Animal Drop off cage is working well. People may now drop off unwanted, stray or found cats or dogs at the Shelter any time of the day or night, no questions asked. The cage, with two separate compartments with water bowls is checked every few hours during the day.

Laura DeSalvo, Bonaire Reporter, April 9-23, 2010

Pioneer vet back

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Marlies in News | Comments Off

Six years after Canadian veterinarian Dr. Cheryl Yuill participated in the Bonaire Animal Shelter’s first free sterilization program in 2004, she returned to Bonaire.
Accompanied by Canadian veterinarian Dr. Mary Lovie who owns a house on Bonaire and who started the whole campaign up at the time, she visited the Shelter. “I’m glad to see so much has changed,”

Left to right: Dr. Mary Lovie, Dr. Cheryl Yuill, Shelter employee Kenneth Piar and Shelter manager Marlies Tiepel

Dr. Yuill says. “There are far fewer stray dogs on the street and the public awareness has become so much better. Several people have come up to me when they heard I was part of the first sterilization program to tell me very proudly that their dog was sterilized! I am also very impressed with the little house the Shelter has built outside their gate for people to put their unwanted animals or animals they’ve found. It’s nicer than the one we have at the shelter I work with in Canada. There we get about 2,500 cats and 1,000 dogs a year that people cannot take care of anymore. Many of those animals are adopted out, but it’s not a no-kill shelter; we also euthanize animals.

In Canada I own and work at the Blue Cross Animal Hospital, in Kitchener, Ontario, and it was my colleague, Dr. Mary Lovie, who took the initiative for the sterilization campaign in 2004.

“I came to Bonaire in 2000 to dive,” Dr. Mary Lovie says, “and in my spare time I looked up the Animal Shelter and I had a conversation with Jurrie, who was the manager in those days, about all the strays downtown and was anything done about them. I offered my services to Jurrie and he took me to Hans and Etty Lambeek, the  veterinarian couple who were then running the animal clinic at Kaminda Lagun. They were very interested when they heard I’d organized similar sterilization projects in other  parts of the world. So, we had several meetings in the following years and in 2004 we hit it off: the two Dutch vets, three American vets and Cheryl and me from Canada. We all brought our own instruments and all the other supplies, and Hans and Etty brought the drugs. From October 14th till October 31st we sterilized 302 animals and it continued after we left.

In conclusion: We’re very happy to see the island has picked up on our program, and it’s heartwarming to see the benefits. We’re highly impressed with the new sterilization campaign the Animal Shelter started last year in May. They’ve sterilized almost 500 animals. It’s been very good progress.  Amazing!”

Greta Kooistra, Bonaire Reporter, March 19- April 9, 2010