Stop mass deployment of animal traps in The Bahamas
The Issue
The Bahamas is about to put more traps into neighborhoods.
THIS MUST BE STOPPED!
In late August 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources announced that more dog, hog, and snake traps will be placed in “hot spots” on New Providence and the Family Islands. Minister Jomo Campbell said the ministry wants at least 20 additional dog traps, plus hog/wild-boar and snake traps, as part of Mission PAWsible. The Nassau Guardian reported the same plan: traps rolled out to deal with roaming animals.
Traps do not fix irresponsible owners. They do not sterilize the animals still on the street. They do not build shelter space, vet capacity, or a reclaim system that actually returns tagged pets. What they do is scoop up whatever walks in: an owned potcake that slipped a gate, a nursing mother, a hog, a snake, a dog that never bit anyone.
And worse yet, they keep them trapped in the sun for hours without water, food, shade, or protection from snakes or other threats.
TRAPS KILL DOGS!
The government’s own partners already know where the problem starts. Bahamas Humane Society President Kim Aranha put it plainly after the Kemp Road attack: dogs do not pack a suitcase and move into a neighborhood. People breed them, abandon them, fail to fix them, and let them roam. If owners were held to the existing Animal Protection and Control Act — license, leash, contain, vaccinate — far fewer animals would ever need to be “caught.”
Mission PAWsible already includes the right tools on paper: a September 1–30 licensing amnesty (normally about $11; free during the month), microchipping, containment, vaccinations, and citations from $50 to $1,000 after the amnesty ends. Humane groups including the Bahamas Humane Society and BAARK were at the launch. Those are the measures that should be funded first — not a wider trap grid.
We also know what happens after many animals are collected in The Bahamas. Reporting over recent years has described Animal Control picking up unwanted and stray dogs and euthanizing them. Expanding traps without expanding foster networks, low-cost spay/neuter, reclaim hours, and transparent outcomes just means more animals enter a system that already cannot keep them.
What this petition asks
We call on the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources and the Animal Control Unit to:
-Pause the expanded rollout of dog traps in residential “hot spots”.
-Put the money into prevention: free or low-cost spay/neuter with BAARK, the Humane Society, and private vets; more microchip readers and reclaim capacity; secure fencing assistance in high-complaint areas; and real follow-through on owners who let dogs roam or attack.
-Do not treat owned companion dogs the same as nuisance wildlife. Prioritize owner identification, citations, and dangerous-dog enforcement over indiscriminate trapping.
-Separate hog and snake control from companion-animal policy. If invasive or agricultural pests must be managed, say so clearly, use methods designed for those species, and keep those operations off residential streets where children and pets can trigger devices.
Public safety and animal welfare are not opposites. A toddler in surgery and a dog dying in a trap are both failures of the same system: too many unsterilized, uncontained animals and too little accountability for the people who put them there.
Do not meet a crisis of irresponsible ownership with a wider net. License. Leash. Fix. Enforce.
STOP. THE. TRAPS.
1
The Issue
The Bahamas is about to put more traps into neighborhoods.
THIS MUST BE STOPPED!
In late August 2026, the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources announced that more dog, hog, and snake traps will be placed in “hot spots” on New Providence and the Family Islands. Minister Jomo Campbell said the ministry wants at least 20 additional dog traps, plus hog/wild-boar and snake traps, as part of Mission PAWsible. The Nassau Guardian reported the same plan: traps rolled out to deal with roaming animals.
Traps do not fix irresponsible owners. They do not sterilize the animals still on the street. They do not build shelter space, vet capacity, or a reclaim system that actually returns tagged pets. What they do is scoop up whatever walks in: an owned potcake that slipped a gate, a nursing mother, a hog, a snake, a dog that never bit anyone.
And worse yet, they keep them trapped in the sun for hours without water, food, shade, or protection from snakes or other threats.
TRAPS KILL DOGS!
The government’s own partners already know where the problem starts. Bahamas Humane Society President Kim Aranha put it plainly after the Kemp Road attack: dogs do not pack a suitcase and move into a neighborhood. People breed them, abandon them, fail to fix them, and let them roam. If owners were held to the existing Animal Protection and Control Act — license, leash, contain, vaccinate — far fewer animals would ever need to be “caught.”
Mission PAWsible already includes the right tools on paper: a September 1–30 licensing amnesty (normally about $11; free during the month), microchipping, containment, vaccinations, and citations from $50 to $1,000 after the amnesty ends. Humane groups including the Bahamas Humane Society and BAARK were at the launch. Those are the measures that should be funded first — not a wider trap grid.
We also know what happens after many animals are collected in The Bahamas. Reporting over recent years has described Animal Control picking up unwanted and stray dogs and euthanizing them. Expanding traps without expanding foster networks, low-cost spay/neuter, reclaim hours, and transparent outcomes just means more animals enter a system that already cannot keep them.
What this petition asks
We call on the Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources and the Animal Control Unit to:
-Pause the expanded rollout of dog traps in residential “hot spots”.
-Put the money into prevention: free or low-cost spay/neuter with BAARK, the Humane Society, and private vets; more microchip readers and reclaim capacity; secure fencing assistance in high-complaint areas; and real follow-through on owners who let dogs roam or attack.
-Do not treat owned companion dogs the same as nuisance wildlife. Prioritize owner identification, citations, and dangerous-dog enforcement over indiscriminate trapping.
-Separate hog and snake control from companion-animal policy. If invasive or agricultural pests must be managed, say so clearly, use methods designed for those species, and keep those operations off residential streets where children and pets can trigger devices.
Public safety and animal welfare are not opposites. A toddler in surgery and a dog dying in a trap are both failures of the same system: too many unsterilized, uncontained animals and too little accountability for the people who put them there.
Do not meet a crisis of irresponsible ownership with a wider net. License. Leash. Fix. Enforce.
STOP. THE. TRAPS.
The Decision Makers
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Petition created on September 15, 2026