Oh, we wouldn't be surprise if the World Vets come back next year and do their clinic at Belize Diving Services, we would not be surprise at all! It's just like them to steal someone's idea and hard work and look good for something they did not accomplish. And, if the case is as you are assuming that the team of vets believe all the poisonous things Kathy & Dawn had to say about Madi without knowing Madi or giving her a chance to know her then I would be wondering how unethical or unreasonable this would be. Kathy & Dawn are drama queens and know how to put on a show, so for them taking snapshots with the group and running around town for them was important. And, boy they know how to poison people's mind against others they don't like. Don't try to start doing something they were doing or they will hate you for life. They are also a couple of pushy women who know how to get their own way and get people on their side, not to mention, have MONEY to offer every thing and anything to look good, unfortunately Madi doesn't have a business that she could use to solicit money from tourist like Kathy & Dawn but only have her personal money to care for the animals, this is why they took advantage of the situation because Madi did not have the money to personally offer anything for free and only the donated things from the villagers of Caye Caulker so that is why they had to go behind Madi's back and try to get her things cancelled so they could run in and look good saving the day. What has Madi done to these two woman anyway that they hate her so much, bring free vet service to the residents of Caye Caulker? Kathy & Dawn have been helping the people by bringing a vet to Caye Caulker but unfortunatly their service has not been for free and half of these people cannot afford vet service. Now, is this why they hate her and you are bringing up little pathetic things like she does not take animals, she is not this, not that but Kathy and Dawn are? What is this all about? If they were the two wonderful woman they are trying to paint they are they should have thanked Madi for finding this vet group, getting the approval to have this event, filing the drug permit and finding out all the info on how to get all that done etc. etc. and moved on. If for you its about the animals why did you start bringing up some unfair accusations to try and harm madi's reputation? Is this a competition you and your friends cannot take? Is that it? If they were the only real humane society they should treat the cats at Kenny better than they are doing and stop taking money from the village council to kill innocent cats. Is this their idea of good humane society work? By the way you know that your friends at BDS also refuse animals or their house will be filled to the roof. Did you forget that the cat you took to Madi that she could not keep because of lack of space Dawn & Kathy had already refused which is the same story with the cat that the two vet students brought to Madi saying that Dawn & Kathy could not keep the kitty because they were busy. For your information, even the largest organizations in the US and Europe unfortunately can only do so much and have to reach their cut off point where they have to say they cannot take in another animal. In the world of not for profit organizations, that is the reality of things. How could you live with yourself and how could you sleep at night knowing that everything you are making up is wrong and that you are just repeating what Dawn & Kathy are telling you to say without the truth. What a puppet!

Hi,

Wow, what is happening here is just terrible. I have now lost all respect for Debbie Cooper. She said something about Madi putting the article and pictures in Caye Caulker Chronicles herself. Well I can tell you that is definitely not true!

How do I know this for a fact? I put that article in there on my own initiative. I went to get my dog spayed, I was so impressed with Madi and the World Vets, "I" took pictures, got some facts, went home, did a short write up and sent it in to Wendy to be published.

Madi did not even know I was going to do this until 'after' it was done.

We love you Madi and we are so proud of you! You are the bigger person in this situation. We know it, you know it, and most of the residents of Caye Caulker know it. You stand tall and keep your head up, what you have done for the people and animals of Caye Caulker was from your heart, and for all of the right reasons.

Kathy, Dawn and now Debbie should all be ashamed of themselves. That is all I am going to say, because I do not know 'all of the facts'. There is plenty more I would like to say, but unless I 'know' for sure, that it is fact, I will not state it here...

To everyone that is reading this. We just had World Vets here on Caye Caulker, what an amazing feat! A pat on the back to 'everyone' who assisted in any way. We, the residents of CC, thank you!!

Perhaps Debbie does not have all the facts. Written a few days ago…here we go by a friend of mine. Here they are:

- Madi had the idea to offer a free vet clinic on CC, she has planned this event for months

- She organized everything with World Vets, for them to come to CC with their team

- She got the necessary license for the vets to do their work at her place, here on CC

- D&K found out about the event and asked if they could help, Madi said ‘sure’…

o Here’s where it gets messy…

o D&K contact World Vets and the team that will be coming.

o D&K convince the Team not to use the free Tropic Air tickets that Madi had arranged for them, D&K will pick them up in their boat

o D&K tell everyone they know that the clinic at Madi’s has been cancelled, and that everything will be taking place at their dive shop

o D&K convince the head vet, that Madi’s license has been made out in the wrong name and they call the Vet Board of Belize and have the name changed and the presiding vets name changed as well

o D&K call the local Coke distributor and tell them not to deliver water to Madi’s place, that the event has been cancelled

o The son of the family that runs the Bakery was SO excited about the classes that Madi was planning. He wanted all his friends to come so he carried a sign-up sheet around with him. He booked his friends parents to bring their pets to the clinic. The little boy heard from his older sister that the clinic was cancelled and the boy was SO disappointed… He threw away the sign-up sheet

o Madi had made meal arrangements with Lloyd at the Sports Bar. D&K called him and told him the clinic was cancelled. Madi and the Team arrived there, but no food had been prepared, Lloyd had been told the event was cancelled.

o Madi worked for weeks with the Vet Board of Belize to get the proper license for this event. D&K wanted to have the surgeries done at their place, not Madi’s. D&K have NEVER had any licensing for the vet work that has been happening at their place. Madi told D&K that she has the license for this to be done at HER place only. D&K say that they have approval as well, that they just got it. Madi calls the Vet Board to find out that the Director has not been in the office for a week and he is the only one to approve of such things. As it turns out, D&K called a woman they know at that office and the woman says ‘Sure, no problem’. But there’s no license…

o D&K interfered so much and created so much confusion in the community, that it has affected turn out at the clinic. People have heard that it was cancelled all together, or that D&K are having the event at their place…. This is so sad…

- Madi has slanderous emails that have been sent to her from D&K

- D&K have said to Madi, in person, that she has NO RIGHT to organize an event like this. That D&K have been helping the animals on CC for 12 years and that Madi has only been helping animals for 5 years.

- Madi has spent time and money to properly set up the ‘Protecting Animal Welfare (P.A.W.) Cat Sanctuary and Humane Society’ and has made the effort to have proper licensing in place.

- D&K are NOT licensed or approved for vet work at the dive shop or to run any kind of a vet clinic

- Despite all that D&K have done, Madi has tried to talk to them, to work it out. The most recent conversation ended with D verbally abusing Madi and telling her to f*** off…

- And there’s more… too tired of this to continue…



Madi has never had an enemy in her life. She is a sweet and caring woman. D&K have abused her, disrespected her, belittled her work, and damaged her reputation in the community . She is in tears over this…



It is SHAMEFUL what D&K have done to Madi and they are NOT working with the best interests of the animals of CC in mind. They should be ashamed of themselves.



The volunteer Vets and Assistants are caught in the middle of this mess. In trying to please everyone, they are going back and forth between Madi’s clinic and the dive shop.

This is so sad for such a wonderful thing for the Island has to come to this. When I was there in March I was astounded with the number of stay cats! World Vets have helped so much, why does it have to be so confrontational? That is what is sad! It has helped everyone! No, I don’t live there, it’s just a visitors observation!

We agree that this is so sad! We at the Belize Vet Board are in charge of approving requests for vets from overseas to come to Belize to practice vet. medicine temporarily. We have known the organization PAW and its founder Madi Collins for over a couple of years when she tried bringing in a group but it was cancelled. We have been in constant contact with Ms. Collins for the past 3 months regarding her organization PAW recent application to bring in World Vets Organization. It took quite a few months for the application to be approved because we could not locate her application however the problem was that the application was changed and sent with a different Humane Society and residing Belizean doctor's name on it. As soon as we found out we contacted Ms. Collins and the application was corrected to show PAW as the organization requesting to bring World Vets to Caye Caulker and the residing doctor to be Dr. Orlando Baptist. Once this was corrected we requested a letter from PAW on PAW's letterhead requesting an official invitation for World VEts to visit Caye Caulker and Ms. Collins complied with all the requirements. The application was finally approved based on the conditions that the vets MUST practice temporary vet medicine at PAW under the supervision of Dr. Baptist and that any remaining drugs must remain at PAW Sanctuary & Humane Society under the supervision of Dr. Baptist as well.

We do not know who Belize Diving Services is as we never received an application from them. That the vets still proceeded to practice at Belize Diving Services without a formal authorization is an illegal move on their part, that they received verbal approval from Dr. Sheila Schmeling to have the vets practice at Belize Diving Service is still very illegal and that the remaining drugs were taken to Belize Diving Services for their use is ILLEGAL! Sorry folks but Belize has laws and these laws were created to avoid incidents such as these not to happen. If incidents such as these are allowed to continue anyone will be able to walk into our country and do as they please without regard for our people and animals. For these two people from Belize Diving Services to walk around feeling proud of themselves telling people this sterilization campaign was their achievement, their idea, their hardwork and dedication is a disrespect to Ms. Collins from P.A.W. and her hard work in trying to help the people of Caye Caulker, help their animals.

Thank you.

For most of my career, I worked in non-profit animal welfare. I was the head of animal welfare for the largest dog charity in the UK and a no kill organisation, which at the time rehomed nearly 10,000 dogs annually. I also worked as a consultant around the world assisting animal welfare non profits.

It may not be reassuring in the slightest, but this sort of inter organisation fighting is completely anticipated. I have seen it in many countries. Interestingly, in most countries I have been where this occurs, USA or Brit expats are running the show. This sort of behaviour is endemic in animal welfare in the USA and the UK.

Most of it stems from passion and caring. Also, many people who choose to devote their lives to animal welfare are, perhaps, better at communicating with animals than they are with people. Animal welfare activists seem to be particularly protectionist, judgmental and competitive.

When mediating these situations, I have always tried to remind people that we are all advocates for animals, who have no voice and that we want their voice to be a positive one if we are to gain support.

Organisations and individuals in animal welfare don't need kudos or credit for what they do. They do need money and quite simply, the way to fund raise effectively is to demonstrate that a good, professional service is being provided and people will support it. Public fighting does nothing to achieve that end.

Eventually all of the bitching drove me out of the non - profit sector and I continued my career working with animals in the private sector. I have seen so many wonderful people with so many wonderful talents leave animal welfare for exactly the same reason.

I hope that people will learn from this and realise the harm that airing 'dirty laundry' does to the reputation of animal welfare in Belize. We are all on the same side and all of this arguing does nothing to alleviate suffering, which is the real reason those who work in animal welfare commit their lives to it.

Here Here Colly!! well said!

I wonder what VETSERRA is going to do about the ILLEGAL practice done by those two people? Will the remaining drugs left on the Island be turned over to P.A.W. ?

Yep,Caye Caulker is more like San Pedro every day.

Let's hope the animals won't suffer over this glitch.

Why do people fight over the glory - letting the fantastic positive results of the mission disappear through the cracks.

I just wanting to make something clear here...

As far as I know, Madi is NOT asking for any glory. She's not even asking for a thank you. If this was one or two inconsiderate acts on the part of Dawn & Kathy at Belize Diving Services, Madi would not be so concerned. She would just go about her business of doing what is right. She stands tall and she knows what goes around comes around.

However, given the constant interference & undermining from these two women, in this situation, I feel the record needed to be set straight.

I personally think CC has a need for the services offered by Madi & by D&K, both have played a part in looking after the animals of CC...

However, considering what has now happened, my preference and wish would be for Madi & PAW to get the funding they need to be THE Humane Society of Caye Caulker. A place for all animals to seek shelter and medical assistance. If you are interested in assisting Madi & her non-profit organization, please visit her website at:

www.PAWAnimalSanctuaryBelize.com

I know for a fact Madi 'was' willing to work with D&K on this event. However, their actions have made it very clear to all that that they wanted nothing to do with her. They proceeded to barrel over her and try to take over the show...

How sad for CC and CC's animals...

I really need to address this one more time..To say how sorry I am for the unbelievably one sided response. Dawn and Kathy never wanted or asked for any thanks..I just thought they deserved it. They do not want to be the Humane Society, they have just done it for years because they are good people and love animals..they actually were very happy Madie was taking that position, and also willing to help. The job is a big one and cant be done by just one person. They have a very busy life running their business, The article Madie wrote for the cronicles thanked knowone but herself. An equal amount of animals were helped at Belize Dive Services, and actually they did put in more hours on the venture,,and yet you folks want to attack them???? How unbelievable..so in my trying to thank them guess I have stirred up all this ..but SHAME on all of you...we could actually use 10 or 20 more people to help in this area, Madi cant do it all but she is a big help,,she isnt and cant be the only one..I am afraid its alot of you that dont know all the facts here..and that dosnt need to be broadcaster for the world. Madi is needed, but still SHAME ON ALL OF YOU..You really are misinformed... whats so hard about saying thanks,,...Agendas, Agendas....