Guest Comments by Cathy Sue Ragan-Anunsen

Note: The writer leads the Esther Honey Foundation which provides the only veterinary care and hospital for companion animals on the Cook Islands.

COOK ISLANDS, South Pacific – These islands are unique as to the condition of their dogs and cats. More than 15 years of veterinary care with an emphasis on making spay/neuter available to every family and every cat or dog has made a big difference.

The Esther Honey Foundation has treated more than 30,000 dogs or cats and desexed more than 12,000. The situation isn't perfect. But compared to other South Pacific islands, according to travelers who write to us or join on-line forums, animals on the Cook Islands are noticeably healthier, fewer in number, better cared for and, perhaps as a result, better natured than those elsewhere.

Before we came to the Cook Islands, we were told there were 6,000 dogs and 8,000 cats on Raratonga. Last year 26 volunteers spent 93 days going door-to-door island-wide counting all dogs, recording how many were desexed, intact or of indeterminate status. This census found 2,000 dogs, 78 per cent of them desexed.

One rewarding thing is that we reached this point without killing healthy animals. Now we plan to achieve a 70-per-cent sterilization rate on the outer islands, already having sterilized more than 80 per cent on Mangaia.

Our main obstacle is to overcome the reluctance of men who use dogs to hunt wild pigs. They fear that sterilization will make their dogs weaker hunters.

We hope our results will encourage other places to begin similar programs. If we had not been the only agency offering full veterinary services and a default shelter while treating animals on outer islands, we could have achieved quicker results.

An advantage of staying long enough to join the community is that we consistently demonstrated a different way to regard and treat animals, promoting cultural change.

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