To many, Anjanie Chattergoon is known simply as the sweet, little, old lady driving the old car along the quiet back road between Waterloo and Perseverance mornings and evenings on her way to and from work at Carillion Caribbean Ltd.
Not many, however, know Chattergoon is a fiesty and fearless rescuer of puppies abandoned along the lonely stretch of former cane fields she traverses daily. At great personal effort, time and resources, she rescues the puppies, and their mothers if they are around, and keeps them at home until she finds homes for them.
“One day I stopped to feed some dogs in the cane and a carload of men pulled up and said, “Don’t feed any dogs here. They killed a lady here.
“But I am fearless,” she told the T&T Guardian as she stopped to feed two puppies who emerged from the canefield when she called out to them. Chattergoon left food for them and a makeshift cardboard kennel but plans to go back for them. They will join other dogs she is keeping at home until they are adopted.
There is always a large bowl of home cooked rice and meat on the backseat of her car, a bucket of dog chow, canned food like sardines, tuna and corned beef, and hotdogs, medication, sedatives and water for any dogs she sees. “My car is a dog car,” she said, adding she also picks up abandoned kittens.
Chattergoon also goes to the Waterloo Cremation Site every evening after work to feed strays. At her Claxton Bay home, some of the rougher dogs are kept in a huge cage while the rest roam around freely in the yard or lounge on chairs.
“This is a dog house.”
Many of the puppies picked up are ill and together with help from daughter, Annisa, who has a Port-of-Spain job, and son, Andrew, a University of the West Indies student, she tenderly nurses them back to health.
“The whole family’s into animal rescue and homing. Even my husband Sonny supports us, sometimes grumblingly, by cleaning up the yard.”
They spend a sizable part of the household income caring for the dogs. “When we pick up the dogs we take them to the vet for their vaccinations and to get checked out.
“We get the adult mothers spayed and keep them until they are adopted. If we release them they will get pregnant again. Or the dog catcher will get them or they will starve to death.”
Chattergoon said the family cooks hundreds of pounds of rice and meat weekly for dogs and purchases a similar amount of dog chow. If you think you can adopt a dog easily from the Chattergoons, think again.
“We place ads in the newspapers and conduct interviews with people who answer to make sure the dogs are going to good homes. These homes must be fenced, for instance.”
Annisa delivers adopted dogs to their new owners all over T&T (and picks up strays she sees on the way) and visits the Claxton Bay Fishing Depot daily, another dog dumping site. And if no one takes a dog? “We keep him until he dies.” She has been rescuing dogs for over ten years.
“It started casually. I saw a dog by the Claxton Bay gas station looking like he was starving and started giving him food.
“Eventually a batch of them came. From there we moved on to other areas.”
So what motivates Chattergoon to devote her entire life to rescuing dogs?
“I just can’t stand to see anything suffering, whether humans or animals. Animals depend on humans for their lives.”
Chattergoon said she helps out needy humans too but prefers to work with animals.