Dear Editor,
I love visiting St. Martin with my family! Great beaches, wonderful food, and friendly people.
But I was horrified, as are many tourists, when I saw sick and injured dogs wandering the streets in search of food and shelter. I have five rescue dogs and it breaks my heart to see any animal suffer.
It made me never want to visit St. Martin again as I am sure is the case with many tourists.
Then I reached out to Daniel Gibbs, who was Tourism Minister at the time. I implored him to do something about the stray dog population as it has a negative impact on tourism. Tourism generates more than 85 per cent of the jobs on St. Martin.
He understood immediately that something should be done and put me in touch with Ursula Oppikofer, who ran a shelter called “I Love My Island Dog” so that we could work together to help get stray dogs off the streets.
I adore Ursula. She is committed to helping stray animals and works to find homes for them in the United States.
All of our hard work was for naught when Hurricane Irma hit in 2017. Ursula’s shelter was destroyed. I was devastated.
Now Daniel Gibbs is running for re-election and one of his priorities is rebuilding I Love My Island Dog’s shelter. This will be a place that tourists can visit. Children in St. Martin can learn about kindness and compassion for animals.
I am on the Board of Directors of The Humane Society of the United States and will urge our 10 million members to visit St. Martin as the only island in the Caribbean that truly cares about animal welfare. I will also work with Ursula on a spay/neuter program that will be funded through various groups including the Cathy Kangas Alliance for Animals. It would be of no cost to the hardworking people of St. Martin.
Daniel has done a great job as President. He led the Island through Irma and COVID. He is a dear friend and someone who is committed to St. Martin’s people and animals.
I urge you to vote for him!
Cathy Kangas
New Canaan, CT
