Animal shelters across the island are inundated with strays, an animal welfare advocate has said, prompting urgent calls for a national spay and neuter programme to arrest what is described as a severe animal welfare crisis.Karen Whittaker, founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ocean Acres Animal Sanctuary, has also raised alarm over the escalating population of stray dogs and cats, warning that the situation is spiralling out of control.“We have to turn away [animals] every day. Every shelter in Barbados is full,” Whittaker told Barbados TODAY. “Every shelter has to turn people away. There’s nowhere for animals to go. There’s absolutely nowhere.” Whittaker expressed particular concern about dangerous packs of large, abandoned dogs forming across the island, posing a threat to other animals.“Those dogs that are let go—the Akitas, the big dogs—are forming packs around the island. And they kill our nice, friendly Bajan dogs,” she charged.
