Dear Editor,
I generally stay away from weighing in on Sint Maarten issues lately. There is too much going on, and most public commentary is noise. And for two decades, I worked relentlessly for this island, so now that I’m more active regionally, I tend to hold my tongue. To keep the peace when I am at home with my family. This one crosses a line with me,e though.
What was published is sloppy, uninformed, and unfair. A Letter to the Editor that reads like a rushed Facebook post dressed up as “commentary,” built on assumptions, weak logic, and bad writing. The grammar is a mess, the story jumps around, and most importantly, they name and shame a volunteer organization without doing the bare minimum due diligence. No call. No attempt to verify facts. No effort to understand who has responsibility for what on the ground. Just a baseless accusation -no doubt born out of a sense of performative entitlement.
Animal Defenders SXM is one of the most active, consistent, selfless grassroots organizations on this island. I served as a founding board member. I know exactly what it takes to keep that type of work going: constant calls, constant crises, constant shortages, and almost zero structural support from the government. Volunteers carry burdens that should never be left to NGOs in the first place. But they do it anyway. Day after day. They pick up the pieces for problems they didn’t create, in a system that routinely fails animals, and then act surprised when NGOs are stretched thin.
If those tourists were genuinely concerned about animal welfare at Bell’s Lookout, there are obvious places to aim their anger:
The people who irresponsibly dump or keep animals.
The lack of water access and basic oversight at a major tourism site.
Inadequate trash facilities and a feeding culture keep animals in poor conditions.
The government’s ongoing failure to fund, enforce, and provide facilities, while expecting NGOs to mop up the consequences.
Instead, they took the easy route: punch down at volunteers. Entitled, misinformed visitors with a Saviour Syndrome expressing disgust and deciding the solution is to publicly attack an organization that is constantly dealing with difficult cases of animal abuse and neglect across the entire island.
Sint Maarten has enough real problems. We do not need careless hit-pieces demoralizing the few people who consistently show up for animals when the system doesn’t. We also do not need “concerned tourist” commentary that lands like a moral verdict, then disappears on the 1730 PM to Miami. If you want to contribute, contribute in a way that actually improves conditions.
If the signatories want to help: contact ADSXM directly, ask what support is needed, donate, volunteer, or pressure the government to do its job. Publicly blaming volunteers because you were upset during a sightseeing stop is, again, performative, and it does damage. It damages morale. It damages trust. And it makes it harder for decent people to keep doing hard, important work.
People working on this island’s front lines deserve better than that. Especially those people who, through their selfless actions, show empathy and compassion—something our community so desperately needs.
Tadzio Bervoets
Sint Maarten
