On Wednesday, September 14, 2022, a field visit was organized to the site of the former animal shelter destroyed in 2017 by Hurricane Irma with Bernadette Davis, 2nd vice-president of the Community. The delivery promised to the 1st quarter of 2024 has once again been postponed... Explanations with the person concerned.
“The animal pound is an obligation of the Community and we have decided to partner with the shelter in order to pool services, it is logical, it is normal” declares Bernadette Davis, 2nd vice-president in charge of the living environment, “Unfortunately, sometimes we have a wish and it is not exactly that (…) it took time, we have to decide, sometimes we have public orders which are unsuccessful, there is a process to respect and when "We give a date, it's because we think that everything will happen like that but sometimes, that's not the case and we have to start from scratch." However, no return to square one regarding the project itself, the new animal shelter will be located in Mont Vernon, on the same site as the old one, then managed by the association I love My Island Dog. “Now everything is on the way,” promises Bernadette Davis. The publication of the contract 'Management of the animal pound service and animal shelter' took place in October 2023 and the study contract was awarded to the A2 Architectes group. The publication of the consultation file for carrying out the work (in accordance with the Environment Code) was planned for February 2024 for work to start in the second half of 2024 and the site to open in a year. “The population has its say, we were waiting for the neighborhood councils (established on March 12, editor's note) because there is a responsibility, especially at the shelter level, it will not necessarily be the same format, personally I prefers to go to each neighborhood because today, we must educate the population on the issue of stray cats and dogs, animals that are mistreated, I am going to organize a slightly different public consultation because the subject is different” specifies the elected representative of the COM. Remembering one day seeing a little girl leave a box with kittens in front of a veterinarian's office without being aware of her gesture, Bernadette Davis intends to educate the Saint-Martin population: "We are a small island, when we were children, cats and dogs stayed outside, myself when I went to the United States for the first time, I was completely shocked to learn that there was an animal hospital, you have to understand all that , culturally, morals have changed, habits too, today we have locals who love their animals but there are others who consider that they are 'only' animals, we must help the population to understand what an animal is and to care about it, especially small children.” On the subject of sterilization campaigns, Bernadette Davis is in favor while emphasizing the financial impact: “I am in favor of occasional periods with sterilization campaigns but it costs, paid by an association or other, it is always money. money somewhere.
confirmed to me that the opening of the site will be in the second quarter of 2025, I will stick to that.” There are many animal rights activists who, more than ever, are crossing their fingers in the face of a critical situation where the quantity of stray animals on the territory continues to increase. _VX
Shelter/pound project for animals by SXM
As a reminder, twenty dogs will be welcomed in the shelter which will be built in the upper part of the site with an area of 12.000m2 and twenty other dogs and twenty cats will be able to be taken care of by the pound which will take place in the lower part as well as a cattery with a capacity of twenty cats and the reception and care facilities for the animals in an adjoining manner. Lower part whose platform will be raised during the development phase to counter the risk of flooding. The plot of land belongs to the Community and respects the distance of 100m between the homes and the construction site. Initially, the land will be cleaned and secured with road access managed by the operators who will be defined in the last phase of the project whose total budget amounts to €1.5M, whether the Community or a delegation of public services as an association which will meet the necessary criteria to manage the operation. The roads will be developed and a parking area demarcated for shelter employees and the public. In a policy of sustainable development, the works will be designed ecologically, with a thermal assessment of the buildings, reuse of water recovered in tanks, the installation of photovoltaic panels, and of course, the integration of cyclonic constraints. Revegetation will also be organized to create a walking route and a park to which the population will have free access. Currently, the Community of Saint-Martin calls on Guadeloupe for an animal pound service, every two weeks every three months.
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