You are touring the island of St. Maarten with a car you just picked up from Leisure Car Rental. Following a narrow thoroughfare, you notice two loose dogs on the side of the road, watching traffic with bored expressions. You slam on the brakes because they might run in front of your car.
The car behind barely avoids rear-ending you, and honks in frustration, while the dogs look at you now with bewilderment.
"Tourists," says one dog to the other. "They think we are too stupid to watch out for traffic."
Caribbean dogs: are they really smarter?
On our island's roads, you will not only encounter plenty of (well-fed) stray dogs. There are also herds of unsupervised goats, the occasional group of cows leisurely strolling along the main highway, and sometimes horses, minding their own business while searching for patches of green grass. If you are lucky, you can witness a family of monkeys crossing at an intersection. And if you have fast eyes, you might see an individual of the elusive and highly unpleasant species of mongoose darting over the tarmac.
"Madness," you might say, "How can the Caribbean people be so irresponsible and allow animals to roam freely?"
They can. Because our animals are smarter. Rarely will you find a stray dog, not understanding how to cross a street. No human intervention is needed, thank you very much. BTW, if you, as the driver, have the feeling that a dog is distracted and might make a mistake: honk! The dog will be alerted and notice the car.
Goats are especially interesting to watch because the young ones are protected by experienced leaders, who sometimes stop traffic to let the group cross a street.
Many island visitors are saddened by seeing stray dogs. Coming from cultures where most dogs are someone's pet, receiving and giving love, the sight of an independent canine looks... so wrong. In reality, many of the strays have developed a feral lifestyle and avoid interacting with humans. They live as packs in the brush.
The island has strong animal protection organizations - among them the Animal Welfare Foundation. These folks, passionate about treating animals the right way, learned how to handle the situation of an increasing stray population: In affiliation with several veterinarians, strays are trapped and sterilized by the vets - free of charge. This program had a very positive impact in limiting the number of free dogs. Now, as these are feral animals, there is no chance of having them adopted by a family. The dog would not be happy and run off at the first chance to rejoin the pack. Animal Welfare understands this and releases the 'fixed' dogs. They also provide generous amounts of dog food every day in areas where packs are known to live.
Now that we made the point that larger animals can very much learn how to handle cars, we touch two species that seem not to be in tune with modern times: No matter how smart they are, cats seem to be incapable of coping with cars well. And then we have the Iguanas, almost as big as cats, and completely oblivious to the dangers of a heap of metal coming their way. These reptiles love to relax on the asphalt heated by the sun and often are just run over.
To learn more about the animal protection movement on Sint Maarten and how you could help a dog, visit the following link:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Nonprofit-Organization/StMaarten-Animal-Welfare-Foundation-270373812975726/
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