Department of Agriculture and Andersen enter landmark agreement for stray animal management

The Andersen Air Force Base recently signed its first ever intergovernmental support agreement with the Guam Department of Agriculture. 

The partnership aims to strengthen stray animal management across the island– inside and outside the fence. 

Territorial Veterinarian Dr. Mariana Turner said the landmark agreement was spearheaded by 36th Wing Commander Brig. Gen. Thomas B. Palenske. 

“He’s a very passionate wing commander in Andersen Air Force Base and he’s been a very big supporter of all of our animal control efforts,” said Dr. Turner.  

The 36th Wing will provide vital equipment, personnel, logistical support and educational outreach to supplement local stray animal control operations. 

In turn, Agriculture’s Animal Health Division will lend their knowledge and skills. 

“As we know, here at animal control, we have very limited personnel, very limited funding for equipment and things like that. So General Palenske was willing to say let’s enter into this agreement and all work together to solve this problem,” added Turner. 

Of note, Turner said service members abandoning animals as they PCS has been an ongoing issue, one that Palenske has been working to address. 

“There have been people who have been unable or unwilling to take their animals off island with them. Sometimes they do abandon them right outside of GAIN and sometimes they just leave them in the home they were at, just within their gated fence and our animal control officers have had to pick them up,” said Turner. 

In one case that KUAM reported in October, six puppies drowned and died overnight after a visiting US Navy sailor left them outside the Yigo animal shelter during a storm. 

An order instilled by Palenske reminds service members at Andersen that animal abandonment, neglect and abuse is against the law, and breaking them comes with consequences.

“It put a mechanism in place to potentially impose disciplinary action for those not following those orders. It’s been relatively successful. There have been cases where people have attempted to abandon animals and they face disciplinary action,” added Turner. 

Meantime, the hope is to have similar agreements with Camp Blaz and Naval Base, especially with some five thousand marines expected to relocate to Guam. 

“These partnerships are so wonderful because they really help to bridge that gap between military and ‘locals,’ because it’s always like they have their fences in borders. It allows them to be more integrated with our community, which creates stronger bonds so we can all move forward together,” said Turner.