THE Guyana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) would like to commend Mr. Leon Suseran for his letter in the Kaieteur News of 17th April, 2013 and the Guyana Chronicle of 18th April, 2013 in which he highlighted the suffering and eventual agonising death of a horse hit by a car on the Cumberland Public Road in East Canje.

Very regrettably, the incident that Mr. Suseran described is fairly common in Guyana as many citizens can attest to.  The details may vary a bit but there are common threads which permeate such instances of cruelty.
If the situation as described is true, then the irresponsible owner should be charged with neglect.  We must also point out that the terrible indifference of those who saw the animal’s suffering and yet did nothing is quite unacceptable in a civilised society.
Perhaps it is that many citizens either don’t know what to do or where to turn to when they encounter such situations.  Reporting such a situation to the GSPCA is an option as the Society will be able to advise what action citizens can take.
The Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA), an arm of the Ministry of Agriculture, should also be able to assist as a number of veterinarians attached to this organisation are stationed throughout Guyana.
Reporting a matter like this to the Guyana Police Force (GPF) is another option, as the GPF should have access to veterinarians in the public service who are stationed in various areas and could assess the animal’s condition and determine an appropriate course of action.
The GSPCA also responds to such situations as best it can within its limited resources and would like to encourage citizens to report incidents of neglected, abused and suffering animals such as this poor horse by calling our Animal Shelter and Clinic on 226-4237.
We thank Mr. Suseran for highlighting this important issue and encourage him and other like-minded citizens to continue their efforts to focus the public’s attention on these important issues which hopefully will lead to improvements in animal welfare in Guyana.

The executive committee of the GSPCA:
Oliver Insanally
Dr. Steve Surujbally
Jennifer Falconer-Majeed
Dr. Nicholas Waldron
Dominique Ahmad
Robin Sivanand
Laleta Sivanand