The American Canine was on the road again, or in this case, in the air, then on a boat. We took a quick trip to Nassau, Bahamas on the island of New Providence. While the views were beautiful, there was one thing we saw that was heartbreaking and put a new spin on the 2000 hit by The Baja Men.

Almost everywhere we went on the island, we saw stray dogs. In the Caribbean, these mongrels are called “Potcake Dogs.” The name comes from a traditional island dish made from rice. Overcooked rice sticks to the bottom of the cooking pot making a bland, brown “potcake.” In the pre-packaged dog food days, this congealed mess was what Bahamian families fed their dogs. The name brings to mind a bland, brown food and the dogs certainly match that description. Many are a dirty brown, floppy ear, mid-sized mutt. The dogs are so similar, in fact, that there were times we would see a dog , then after driving to the other side of the island, would see an identical dog. It would almost give you a sense of deja vu.

One animal rights group estimates there are some 11-thousand un-owned dogs on that island alone. There is an obvious effort underway to help curb the overpopulation- we saw signs for free spay and neuter clinics. We also saw the island’s Humane Society, which looked to be every bit as big or bigger than many in equal sized communities in the US.

The dogs are smart, though. I was running and stopped on a beach to take a picture and 3 of them sprung from the shade of the shrubbery to come over, tails wagging, to see if I had a snack. I could see a number of to-go food containers in the area, obviously, this pack of pooches had some supporters. Upon seeing the dogs, my travel companion also managed to find a few leftovers to take down to the beach for them.

We were not the only suckers, I mean, concerned tourists. On our flight home, there was a dog and two cats that were immigrating from island life to the PNW.

The Bahamas Humane Society is working hard to help ease the pet overpopulation problem there. If you would like to contribute, please just follow this link. I am not in any way associated with, or working for the organization.

We also had a different kind of wildlife adventure. The island is famous for its swimming pigs. By swimming, I mean, several pigs that wander around on the beach and get fed by tourists. It was twenty dollars for a cup of pineapple, watermelon, and hot dogs (don’t give that too much thought) and a half hour of picture taking time before loading back onto your boat to make room for the next round of tourists.