This time last year....

...at 13.30 we didn't know how much our lives were about to change. At 15:30 Neal was leaving to go to work at the hatchery and called out to me that he was going to take Rasher. I had planned to take Rasher and his harem to Surf Beach as I had a nest to excavate there, but going to the main hatchery at the RIU hotel was a rare treat for Rasher and was only possible since we had bought the Landrover. I was about to shout out and tell Neal to leave him with me but didn't. That decision will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Earlier in the day Sheena had phoned me in a terrible state as her dog Cross had been poisoned, she was asking if we knew what could be done for him. We both assumed that Cross had been poisoned near the Morabeza hotel where he mostly hung out. Why we didn't ask where it was Cross had eaten poison is a question we ask ourselves all the time.

The day before Foxy had died but he was a free spirit and it didn't occur to us that his death might be something that should make us fear for Rasher. Rasher was always with us, we thought we could protect him.

By 15.00 Rasher was dead and our family was destroyed. Rasher became the latest in a long line of animal victims, killed by the RIU hotel as an easy solution to 'problem' of dogs and cats hanging around the hotel. Strychnine had been placed on the beach, an action that was authorised by the RIU manager Giorgio Chiarel and executed by Julio Cabral, an employee of the Department of Health.

Placing poison on a public beach is indiscriminate, inhumane, illegal, dangerous to humans and quite simply not an effective solution.

Giorgio Chiarel was reassigned by the hotel and Julio Cabral continues both his regular work and his lucrative sideline with no penalties for either.

Not so for Neal and I who every day continue to mourn the loss of a beautiful spirit filled with disbelief that we will never see or touch Rasher again. Never hear him bark to be let in. Never see him staring at us asking to go for a walk or chasing birds or balancing beautifully on the back of our quad bike. All of us never happier than when he was at our side and we were at his.

Twelve months on and sadness continues to overwhelm us. Time does not heal. Ignorant people continue to abuse animals.

This time last year....

...at 13.30 we didn't know how much our lives were about to change. At 15:30 Neal was leaving to go to work at the hatchery and called out to me that he was going to take Rasher. I had planned to take Rasher and his harem to Surf Beach as I had a nest to excavate there, but going to the main hatchery at the RIU hotel was a rare treat for Rasher and was only possible since we had bought the Landrover. I was about to shout out and tell Neal to leave him with me but didn't. That decision will haunt me for the rest of my life.

Earlier in the day Sheena had phoned me in a terrible state as her dog Cross had been poisoned, she was asking if we knew what could be done for him. We both assumed that Cross had been poisoned near the Morabeza hotel where he mostly hung out. Why we didn't ask where it was Cross had eaten poison is a question we ask ourselves all the time.

The day before Foxy had died but he was a free spirit and it didn't occur to us that his death might be something that should make us fear for Rasher. Rasher was always with us, we thought we could protect him.

By 15.00 Rasher was dead and our family was destroyed. Rasher became the latest in a long line of animal victims, killed by the RIU hotel as an easy solution to 'problem' of dogs and cats hanging around the hotel. Strychnine had been placed on the beach, an action that was authorised by the RIU manager Giorgio Chiarel and executed by Julio Cabral, an employee of the Department of Health.

Placing poison on a public beach is indiscriminate, inhumane, illegal, dangerous to humans and quite simply not an effective solution.

Giorgio Chiarel was reassigned by the hotel and Julio Cabral continues both his regular work and his lucrative sideline with no penalties for either.

Not so for Neal and I who every day continue to mourn the loss of a beautiful spirit filled with disbelief that we will never see or touch Rasher again. Never hear him bark to be let in. Never see him staring at us asking to go for a walk or chasing birds or balancing beautifully on the back of our quad bike. All of us never happier than when he was at our side and we were at his.

Twelve months on and sadness continues to overwhelm us. Time does not heal. Ignorant people continue to abuse animals.

Which is it then? Policy or no policy?

Three extracts from emails received from the same person at RIU head office :

"We do not have a policy for the handling of stray dogs"

"Finally the attack on a guest’s child convinced us that the risk for our guests caused by these massive dog attacks was no longer tolerable. We informed the authorities of the country and asked them to take care of the safety of our common clients and other people."

"We do not have a policy for the handling of stray dogs, nor we nor a individual manager does. Stray dogs are a destinations problem and our policy is to advice the authorities about this if it gets to be a risk for our guests."

We do not have a policy.............. and our policy is ............

Hmmmm.......

One RIU hotel guest who won't be fobbed off!

This is the response one RIU guest sent after Claudia Schunk the head of communications at the RIU sent a standard email

Dear Mrs Schunk,
Thank you for your standard reply which unfortunately does not really answer any of my questions . Since the manager of Riu Funana admitted to contacting somebody to 'take care of the problem' and a person has come forward admitting to having placed poison on the beach in front of the hotel, in a private arrangement between the hotel and the individual concerned, I would like to ask you who you think is responsible for this incident???

I would also like to know what guarantee there is for me and my family who will be going to the Riu Karamboa that we will not face a similar situation, and what measures have been taken by Riu to ensure the safety of families and dogs on the beach at the Riu Funana.

I would also mention that I have read many, many reports on forums for this destination from holidaymakers having come into contact with stray dogs on the beach. They all describe them as friendly and shy.. not the agressive wild dogs that the hotel has described.

With regard to your final statement. What is the Riu chain's actual policy with regard to stray dogs? Is there a global policy or is each individual hotel manager repsonsible for dealing with things as he or she sees fit? In what ways are you "working with local authorities" and how do you intend in the future to help to solve the stray dog problem?
I would really appreciate if you could give a more personalised reply to this mail as the seriousness of the subject warrants.

Silence from the RIU speaks volumes

Sitting waiting for a response to my letter sent registered post to the owner of the RIU group, Mr Luis Riu Guell. Nothing yet. I know the post is slow and Europe is covered with snow but a whole month? I suppose I have to assume that they are going to ignore us. Better get the pen and paper (keyboard and printer) out again then.

In the letter I stated the facts of Rasher's death and asked a few simple questions :

• If Mr Chiarel did contact ‘the authorities’ (although he stated to us that he did not) – what was it that he expected the ‘authorities’ to do?
• Were RIU head office aware of dogs and cats dying on the premises through possible poisoning since 2007?
• Has this been and will it continue to be the official policy from RIU to dealing with cats and dogs on the hotel grounds or will RIU change the policy of dealing with stray dogs and cats following this recent incident of the death of beloved pets?
• Has there been any internal action taken to deal with those involved?
• What will happen to the latest dogs that are coming to the beach and the cats that are still inside the hotel?
• Can the RIU guarantee that there will be no more poison put on the beach?
• Will the RIU give us an honest and factual account of the circumstances leading to the death of our dogs?

Not unreasonable to want to know if the hotel intends to carry on with its nasty killing policy is it? If I were the hotel management I think I would want to make a statement and let people know that it is not our policy. Oh well, make your own minds up.....

Publico article in English

Who killed Rasher? by Ana Cristina Pereira
I hadn’t even left for Cape Verde before I heard about dog poisoning on Santa Maria's beaches. Meanwhile, Jacquie Cozens and Neal Clayton were mourning the loss of Rasher.
Neal was making a presentation about the conservation of marine turtles when, suddenly, Rasher jumped inside the hatchery. In just a few minutes Rasher started convulsing. Neal took him to a nearby hose and tried to make him vomit. The vet just simply said that it was death by poisoning with stricnine, a very toxic substance usually used to kill rats.
Rasher was born in Ireland. He lived in Sal since 2007. He was six years old and weighted 30 kilos. When I met Jacquie and Neal in a hotel in Santa Maria, they were still overwhelmed by the pain. To them, Rasher was like a child. How do you cope with the loss of a child?
They were not the only ones. On the day that Rasher died – the 8th of October - other people went through the same experience on the same beach. Rod Smith saw his dog, Cross, die and Jenny Quin and Vernon Archer saw their dog, Foxy, die.
That week the local newspaper Expresso das Ilhas printed a story about more than 15 dogs being killed in Santa Maria beaches. What the hell was happening in Sal? That was the question on Jacquie and Neal's lips. After that, people who came to Sal didn't even know this had happened.
All over the island visitors could see dogs running about and interacting with people - strays and other not-so-stray dogs. On the the beach I was approached by some of these dogs as soon as I opened my bag to take out the sandwiches.
I heard the story from Neal and imagined how horrific it must be to find dead stiff dogs instead of lively and friendly dogs. Jacquie went further and said: "So many children on the beach! Would a child survive if it ingested the poison that killed a 30kg dog?" I wanted more information.
The deaths occurred around the Hotel Riu Funaná and on the 9th of October Jacquie and Neal went to speak to the manager of this huge hotel thinking, "The hotel had to be responsible for their guests and staff, so they should investigate what happened and who was responsible and make sure that it didn't happen again". The conversation didn't go so well.

On the 14th, the couple was received by the local mayor, who assured them that the Câmara Municipal had nothing to do with this poisoning and that the health department was also investigating the matter. Two days later they received an extract of a letter that stated that a sanitary agent from the department of health had been contacted by the Riu Funaná hotel. However, it stated that this man had placed the poisoned on his own time.
Jacquie and Neal requested an explanation from the head office of the Riu chain and received a letter with an explanation that didn't convinced them: "In a recent past we had an increase of attacks of stray/wild dogs. (...) We informed the local authorities and we asked them to take care of the security of our customers and other people. (...) We are aware of any organized poisoning, nor do we accuse any institution of doing so".
When I met them, at the end of October, Jacquie and Neal had just given the case to the local prosecutor. They really want to find the culprits and bring them to justice.
Jacquie is a marine wildlife film-maker. In 2007 she came to Sal to make a film about the marine turtles and was horrified about the quantity of dead turtles on the beach and decided to found an NGO called SOS Tartarugas to protect them. Neal also embraced the cause.
"We brought Rasher here because he it wasn’t a long flight and it seemed like a good place for him to live". After what happened they no longer want to live there.
Individual stories can determine the impressions of one place. And my impression would be really bad if I had not heard one other story hadn't happened. One poor cat with no strength in his back legs survived thanks to the care of a guest and one employee of the Oasis hotel. A Portuguese lady saw a kitten and felt sorry for it and asked a member of the staff of the hotel to keep her and take care of it while she took care of the paperwork to bring her back to Portugal. She had just flown back to come and get it. The cat "Oasis", can almost walk now.

The original can be viewed here http://jornal.publico.clix.pt/Suplementos/Fugas/

Article in Publico, Portuguese national newspaper

This article appeared on 6th November in the Portuguese national press (English translation below). Follow this link for the original http://jornal.publico.clix.pt/Suplementos/Fugas/