Saint Lucia: HelpAWS asks people to adopt amid overcrowding in dog shelter

Castries, Saint Lucia: HelpAWS, Help Animal Welfare in Saint Lucia, has recently welcomed five puppies to the organisation, sharing the problem of overcrowding in the organisation. The post by the organisation, shared on March 31, stated, “Five. It’s not such a big number when you consider it: Five fingers, five points on a star, five oceans, five Great Lakes, and five rings on the Olympic emblem.”

It further outlined that five more puppies coming into a shelter that’s already overcrowded can seem like an enormous number, especially considering we’ve already taken in more than 25 pups in the past few weeks. “We are completely out of space, with temporary pens being erected in all of the common areas of the shelter,” the volunteers stated while trying to make a place for new pups.

While informing about the background of the little ones, HelpAWS stated, “These little ones were born in a restaurant in the north of the island. The restaurant owner tried to catch their mom but, like most strays, she had no reason to trust him and ran off, leaving her babies to fend for themselves. We can’t imagine the level of fear that drives a mother to leave her babies, but sadly it exists. So now that we have these little ones, we will become their surrogate mama and make sure they are fed, kept safe, and loved until they’re able to find families forever.”

Additionally, it noted that adoptions have pretty much ground to a halt. The organisation has no idea why these cycles happen, but they do know that there are no slow seasons here at the shelter, even though adoptions may have slowed. It scares the people in dog shelters to wonder what will become of all of the animals in the care now and those who will need tomorrow and in the days, weeks, and months to follow if we don’t have homes for current babies to go to.

“We get by on a razor-thin budget, with enormous costs for food, vetting, and resources to ensure each puppy or kitten that comes into the shelter has everything they need. When adoptions stall, and the shelter continues to take animals in, those costs increase exponentially. Money can’t buy love – and we will love all of these babies regardless – but the reality is we can’t take more in if we can’t provide the food and medical attention they need because we are out of money,” it noted.

While asking for donations and support, the organisation mentioned, “Please SHARE our posts to help us spread awareness, which will hopefully bring in new adopters and donors to help support our cause. Donations can be made to donate@helpaws.com using e-transfer, PayPal, or Zelle or to @helpaws using Venmo. Adoption applications can be completed by going to www.helpaws.com/adopt.”