Valencia couple saves hundreds of

Ambika Jagassarsingh

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Animals tend to bring a great deal of joy to humans, yet they do not all receive the same love they selflessly give. Over the years, animal rescuers Clifford Tardieu and his wife, Sharon Tardieu, have committed themselves to improving the lives of those who have been abandoned, abused, and forgotten through their animal shelter, Tardieu’s Kitten & Puppy Sanctuary.

The Tardieus have been rescuing animals since 1991, when they lived in St Maarten, and continued the service when they moved to Trinidad. “I’ve been doing this for many, many years, and then when Sharon and I met in St Maarten, we rescued our first dog together, and then we started to do a lot of rescues with other animals, other puppies.

Trinidad is the first place that, when we came back to live here in ‘97, it was the place where we started to do cats, and we only had about four or five of our own cats together.”

Tardieu revealed that their shelter, located in the Valencia region, has reached its physical capacity. “There are 235 to 240 cats, including kittens, and we fluctuate between 25 and 35 dogs … I’ve had to turn people back. Because literally, when we have more and more than we have, it does take away the funding or the help, the time, and the effort and resources to help the rest of them.”

Despite turning away some of the animals due to the number of them at the shelter, Tardieu will not pass a suffering animal. With a tinge of sadness, he also admitted that no matter how much he tries, they alone cannot fight the growing number of abandoned or stray animals.

“Once an animal is in my sight, once it is in front of me, whether it is on the highway or whether it’s on the pavement, I don’t … My principle is I don’t walk over it, I don’t drive over it, I don’t drive around it. I try to help it as best as I can, but that doesn’t mean I go looking to save animals anymore. Because quite practically, you can’t save them all.”

Since moving from their previous location in Mt Lambert, San Juan, to Valencia, the Tardieus have managed to rehome several of their rescues. “Since we’ve been here for about a year and a half, we’ve placed about 30 to 35 kittens and cats and about 25 to 30 dogs in around Valencia, Arima, and Sangre Grande. Sometimes doctors, lawyers, people of all kinds come here to adopt an animal because, as you can see, the animals have a certain temperament.

We make sure that all the cats have that kind of love. So, they’re calm, they’re quiet, they’re not aggressive, and people like that.” Despite their best efforts, however, it never seems to be enough.

Tardieu also condemned the behaviour of some citizens towards innocent animals. “The mindset of a Trinidadian is that once an animal is on the road, they don’t apply the brake or slow down; they pass over it. And when on the way back and the animal is in 1,000 pieces, they will try to drive around the animal because they don’t want to get it on their Prado … They don’t realise it; it’s alive until it’s dead.”

The 56-year-old animal advocate dishearteningly revealed that the workload at the shelter fell on three people. However, they manage with who they have, but a little extra help will always be welcomed. “We’ve had other vets, some young vets, aspiring vets; they’ve come up here and done some work with us. We do have one guy working with us. He stays in the cattery down below, at the bottom of the hill. So, when we look back, what we’d really need is for people to come and volunteer their time.

We would love to be able to afford another worker because the sheer volume of animals is a lot for two people or even three people to do on their own.” In addition to the lack of manpower, the cost of caring for almost 300 animals is extremely high. Tardieu added, “Almost all of the money we get here is from donations; it’s from help. If it wasn’t for donations, we couldn’t do this. And that’s why we had to go public because we had to be able to feed them.” He said they go through a 22-pound bag of cat food in one day, while a large bag of dog chow can last about a week.

However, other factors contribute to the expenses. “We also have the medication. We also have the vet visits, we have the doctor’s visits. And those things add up. I would say we use anywhere from $5,000 to $10,000 a month in expenses here, maybe a little more depending, because each of these cats … it’s not just food, but they require medication. Sometimes they get sick. And sometimes, most times you have to give them worming medicine. So, it’s costly.” To help manage and absorb the costs of the shelter, Tardieu, a self-proclaimed car connoisseur, restores cars when time allows.

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But between the impact of COVID-19 on his side job and a cancer diagnosis in 2011, he cannot overexert himself. Tardieu has been in remission for the past 13 years. He revealed that having cancer gave him a bit of perspective that propelled him forward. “I don’t like to see people suffer. So, I help cancer patients as well. So, once an animal is suffering, I will do my best to stop the suffering. I don’t have a problem when an animal dies, because it’s no longer in pain … Because of my battle with cancer, I thought that I would use my second lease on life wisely.” Despite the hardships, the Tardieus always try their best to help their rescues, since they get a sense of fulfilment from seeing them flourish. “It’s a catch-22 type of thing with animals; they can give you joy, you could be happy to save an animal, especially when an animal was tortured. When an animal has been chopped, when it’s been poisoned, and you bring that animal back from the dead, and you see an animal thrive, you know?

“For example, somebody ran over this cat. And it came here, and we were sure it was going to die, we were almost certain it was going to die. And he’s moving around rather well. So that in itself is an accomplishment. That’s something to look forward to. That’s something you feel good about.” Tardieu said over the years, citizens have become extremely callous to animals, but this has not made him lose hope. He believes that with the help of volunteers, they can do even more. “One of the things that I think would help us run a lot smoother is maybe one or two more volunteers to come once a week; it would be great if they come once a day.

But if a volunteer could come once a week, more donations, cleaning supplies, food, if we could get a vet or two to come here and visit us.” Tardieu also called on the Government to do its part by implementing a spay and neuter programme for animals, which would eventually help curb the number of strays present on the streets.

Anyone willing to assist the Tardieus in providing a haven for displaced animals can call 382-4926 or 703-0502.