Southwick man adopts dog on Cape Verde beach holiday

Andy Edmonds went to Boa Vista in Cape Verde last year and was so appalled at hearing about dogs being “poisoned and killed” that he adopted one and brought her back home to Southwick.

Now Andy has helped collect thousands of signatures to call for better treatments of animals on the island – and he has decided to adopt another dog.

The 75-yar-old grandfather said: “If this continues we just won’t go on holiday there any more.

“So many people go to Cape Verde to see the dogs on the beach but they are being poisoned and killed.

Caramella the puppy in Cape Verde (Image: Andy Edmonds)

“These dogs have never seen grass or rain but she is doing well here now.”

Andy said he went on holiday with his wife Mandy to Boa Vista in Cape Verde, off the coast of West Africa, and fell in love with the wild animals on the beach.

However, he was horrified when he was told that dogs are allegedly poisoned in an effort to control the population.

He and Mandy adopted a puppy in June, called Caramella, and brought her back to Southwick after losing their dog and two cats during the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Andy is planning to return to Cape Verde to adopt another dog, called Bea, in May.

He has also helped set up a Change.org petition to end the “cruelty and poisonings towards dogs and cats in Sal and Boa Vista, Cape Verde”.

The petition has already gained nearly 15,000 signatures since the beginning of January.

Caramella the dog (Image: Andy Edmonds)

It reads: “As tourists who have visited and fallen in love with the beautiful island of Cape Verde, we are heartbroken by the horrific treatment of dogs and cats.

“These animals, gentle and loving creatures that they are, are being subjected to unimaginable cruelty.

“They are poisoned, beaten, killed, starved, trapped in cages dumped in random places left to die. Puppies and kittens are born at the side of the roads, run over and abandoned.

“It is a nightmare that these innocent beings live like this every day.”