As Christmas nears, goat owners quake
Published:Monday | December 13, 2021 | 12:09 AMRasbert Turner/Gleaner Writer
When Margaret Jenkins purchased a black and white ram for $25,000 for a get-together at Christmas, the last thing she expected was for it to be snatched from her veranda.
When she woke up last Wednesday, the only sign left behind was the length of rope with which the animal had been tied.
“The frightening experience is that the goat was close to the house when it tief,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins’ heartbreak in the rural community of Point Hill, St Catherine, is not unfamiliar.
As Christmas time nears, goats – especially rams – are akin to gold in Jamaica, with thieves plundering farms with impunity.
“We just have to now seek a next goat for the occasion as the ‘owner’ gone wid di rammy,” Jenkins quipped, in resignation.
Praedial larceny is widespread in Jamaica, costing, conservatively, $6 billion annually. But the quantum of the loss for many small farmers goes beyond mere dollars and sense, representing, for some, the only means of financing the dreams of education for their children.
Although the agriculture ministry has boasted an 80 per cent increase in praedial larceny arrests between 2019 and 2020, those interventions represent a smidgen of the cases as the vast majority go unreported.
But residents in west central St Catherine say that goats aren’t the only target of thieves, who have stolen cable, thus causing a blackout in some communities.
“Five months there is no Internet in Duxxes and Point Hill as tief moved the cables. We need to have some remedy before Christmas,” Michael Beecher, a taxi driver, said.
Head of operations in St Catherine North, Deputy Superintendent Linroy Edwards, said the police would mobilise manpower to curtail crime throughout the division.
“We are aware that thieves are active, especially this time of year, but we remain resolute and will be using our resources in an effort to keep the residents safe,” Edwards said.