TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Cats at Divi

Saw a post with pictures of the cats supposedly being poisoned at Divi by management. Anybody have more info on this? Was posted on a closed group so can't share the link. If so it is despicable.

Oh Hell no!

I also saw the pictures. Trust me, they are too sad to repost. How can anybody do this and sleep at night?

It was also posted by someone who talked with the GM at Divi that poison is put out to kill rodents and that the cats are being captured for a spay/neuter program. Unfortunately, some of the cats ate the rat poison.

That is just being irresponsible to put poison out that is also accessible to cats or any other wildlife. There are many proper ways to do it. That manager showed ignorance at its highest. Disgusting.

Thank you Scubaman. I agree 100%.

I'm sure that manager will have some explanation to back track and cover up that horrible thing so as to make it not Divi's fault.

There is quite a discussion about this on both Jeff Burgers and Simply SXM Facebook sites. Explanation from the Manager with many comments. Looks like she is doing a lot of backtracking. To bad this has happened.

It's a BIG deal for us!

Correct. Nothing to just shrug off as unfortunate.

Utterly disgusting!! There was no need to poison the rats, the cats would do the job.

Whether you’re a cat person or not, if the cats were poisoned, this was a disgusting action to which there can be absolutely no justification. There are too many organizations across the island that will help with the neutering of the kitties and people who will maintain the cat feeding stations at most resorts when the resort guest population is down.

As to “the cats taking care of the rats” - having seen a few of those rats while dining in several of the island’s favorite dinner spots, some of the rats are bigger than the typical resort kitty so I’m not sure that’s always the case.

But regardless, poisoning any dog or cat is heartless and the perpetrator should be ashamed of themselves and punished for their actions if the island’s laws allow for this.

I sent an email of objection to a generic "guest relations" address yesterday, and received the following this morning:

Good Day,

Please find the full details from resort management below:

You may have seen a graphic picture circulating on social media with accusations that Divi Little Bay is hurting or killing community, stray and feral cats that find their way to the resort. Please know that nothing could be could be further from the truth. We appreciate and share your concern for St. Maarten’s community cat population and are committed to their safety and welfare.

Issues that affect the health and safety of the cats and the people that interact with them are complex and include factors such as climate, geography, local laws and cultural norms, as well as the presence of other animals – predators and prey, including protected and endangered birds nesting on Fort Amsterdam peninsula. As such, we have taken several steps to effect a positive impact for the cats and the community in which they live.

After consultation with a local animal welfare group, we purchased humane traps to capture the cats in order to transport them to a veterinarian where they are scanned for the presence of a microchip and receive medical care. Divi Little Bay pays for vaccinations and sterilization, which not only prevents pet overpopulation, but also largely eliminates objectionable spraying, vocalizing and fighting behaviors. After medical care, our staff works to relocate the community cats to permanent, loving homes. So far, we have found forever homes for three cats and one more is currently at the vet.

In addition to Little Bay’s community cat programs, other resorts in the Divi family on Aruba, Barbados and Bonaire have similar programs in place to help local animals. On Aruba, Divi Resorts also assists St. Pepper’s Friends Foundation, which finds foster and adoptive homes for island dogs and cats, and works with tourists to help transport these pets to their new homes in the US or Canada.

Again, we appreciate your concern and we assure you, we are committed to providing life-saving options for our community cats.

I haven't read the Facebook posts yet, but bottom line, they are removing the cats from the Divi property.

Pictures of dead cats and witnessed personal accounts on Facebook don't lie. They are just covering their a**.

This may well be the case but unless the pictures can be substantiated and any "personal account" on any social media site may not be 100% accurate. I read of one "personal account" and it told a totally different story. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.