ST. CROIX --- It is a typical scene from a horror film: A full moon is out, werewolves are attacking, wolves are howling and an overall feeling of something eerie is on the horizon.

It sounds fictional, but replace the werewolves with packs of wild dogs and hear instead the sound of goats being attacked -- your are now on St. Croix.

Henry Schuster, the former commisionor of the Department of Agriculture and a local farmer, believes that the full moon affects wild dogs who aggressively attack livestock on his farm.

"Something I've observed in over 50 years of farming is that 90 percent [of wild dog attacks] occur around or during a full moon," Schuster said Saturday as he discussed the yearly wild dog attacks on his livestock.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, "lunacy" is the "intermittent mental derangement associated by the changing phases of the moon."

"During a full moon, the female dog's behaivor changes and they come and attack. I don't sleep, really, during a full moon," Schuster added.

However, as most Crucians know, the wild dog attacks have little do with full moon occurrences but more to do with the large number of stray animals running loose on the island.

According to St. Croix Animal Shelter statistics, in 2002, the shelter was forced to euthanize almost 3,500 animals -- a number that SCAS' Executive Director Paul Chakroff finds appalling.

Not only can the shelter not handle the enormous population of stray animals, which they are forced to euthanize, but they must pick and choose which animals to save.

Chakroff has been the executive director for SCAS for over a year, previously directing a no-kill animal shelter for almost 15 years in the Midwest, and has never experienced such a large animal welfare problem as St. Croix's.

"But there are differences. We had an animal control and the Humane Society helping our shelter maintain the problem" Chakroff said.

Not only is it an animal welfare problem but it affects public health and safety, endangered species, livestock and economic tourism and development, Chakroff added.

And Schuster agrees with Chakroff, since the most recent attack cost him almost $30,000 and left him nine months behind schedule -- which is how long it takes for a sheep to mature.

"Today I bought 20 sheep, but I still won't be able to produce enough as I could before. Once the dogs hit you and know animals are there, they repeatedly come back," he said.

However, there is a solution to this monumental problem, but residents of the island must help.

According to SCAS, the problem is in large part due to irresponsible pet owners and those who refuse to contain or confine their animals. Not only do the animals then run wild but are also not spayed or neutered. This results in a continuous cycle of dogs running amok.

The SCAS has methods for a solution to the problem: their Foster Care program, which helps save animals that are not immediately adoptable; the Adoption Program, which occurs at the shelter and other off-site locations; the Pets-from-Paradise Program helping to adopt pets off-island in order to save them; and their Low-Cost Spay/Neuter Program which charges a mininal fee to spay or neuter pets.

"We expect to see results in five years," said Chakroff, adding that the programs will greatly reduce attacks on livestock and sea turtles nesting areas.

As for Schuster, he will just continue fighting the attacks each time they occur, but he believes that the government should help SCAS and farmers fight the impending dog attacks.

"It's rough on farmers beacause it's nearly impossible to get insurance to cover these attacks. Forty to 50 percent of the time the animals have to be destroyed -- you can't just save them, " he said.

But this full moon, as Schuster sits watch over his large sheep farm, he will set his traps and wait for the attacks, as the animal shelter waits for the problem to be solved.

"Our pet population has hit an epidemic level. The problem is that if we euthanize 4,000 animals, we may have to do it again next year, resulting in a recurring problem," Chakroff said.