Deputy mayor laments menace of stray animals in Westmoreland

WESTERN BUREAU:

Irresponsible cattle farmers and the absence of an adequate municipal pound in Westmoreland have led to several fatal collisions with no redress to survivors.

Ian Myles, the Jamaica Labour Party councillor for the Little London Division, says he is lucky to be alive, having escaped an accident involving a stray animal.

Speaking at Thursday’s regular monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation (WMC), Myles, who is also the deputy mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, made a strong call for the corporation to play its role in helping to save the lives of the residents of the parish, and to protect their properties from these animals.

“Since we met last month, there has been a fatal crash, again [involving] stray animals,” Myles said. “I could have been a victim of a crash with stray animals. It’s a lucky thing that l can drive.”

He noted that the stray animals often step from the vegetation along the roadways into the path of motorists. “You don’t see the cows until you [are] upon them. They have taken over the streets of the parish,” the JLP councillor said.

The Road Safety Unit reported that Jamaica ended 2023 with 425 people being killed in crashes. That number marked a 10 per cent decrease in fatalities, compared to 2022. That year, a total of 488 fatalities were recorded on the nation’s roadways.

On Christmas Eve, 29 -year-old Odane Dennison of Pipers Corner, Savanna-la-Mar died after his motorcycle collided with a stray cow that walked into his path on the Petersfield main road.

Five months earlier, on July 30, the Westmoreland Police Division was plunged into mourning after 21-year-old Constable Tajay Ebanks lost his life as a result of injuries he sustained when his service motorcycle collided with a cow in Little London.

And if that were not enough for the authorities to do something, three days later Christopher Samuels, 22, also known as ‘Delano’ of a Dalling Street address in the parish, lost his life when he crashed into a tree on the Little London main road.

Reports are that on the day in question, Samuels was driving his Toyota Corolla Axio motor car with two other passengers onboard when upon reaching a section of the Little London main road, a cow walked into the path of the vehicle. Samuels took evasive action, which caused the motor car to crash into a tree. The passengers were treated for injuries sustained from the crash.

On August 14, at about 8 p.m., a hotel worker had a near-death encounter with a cow while riding his motorcycle from work in Retreat, near Negril.

He collided with the animal and was flung from his bike. He was admitted to hospital and treated for serious injuries from the collision.

IDENTIFICATION OF ANIMALS

Myles said the situation has become unbearable and should not be allowed to continue. “The deaths continue to climb, and the other associated burden on the lives of residents continue to be insurmountable.”

The deputy mayor said this includes “loss of water which persons would have purchased [and stored] in their drums to use domestically; fruits and vegetables are being destroyed; [and] just the mess being left on the streets, causing people to go to a car wash daily.”

He appealed to cattle farmers to be more responsible for their livestock.

“The farmers of this parish don’t respect law and order. It can’t continue, because when you lick a cow, you don’t know whose cow [it is], that is why I have to support the whole [idea of] identification of the animals, whether branding or tagging. And we as a municipality have to push for the identification of these animals,” the deputy mayor lamented.

He said the need to provide a proper municipal pound has been on the books for too long. He noted, too, that the WMC needs to further engage the owners of the land for which negotiations is now taking place, for a larger plot of land to keep these stray animals, given the large number of them roaming the streets of the parish.

“It seems as if we are biting with gums and no teeth. The old pound is there and if you ask me, it’s going to take some work. That pound which served the parish for decades – it’s a different dispensation that we are seeing,” he added. “We cannot sit idly and watch persons losing their lives, while we here at the corporation do not institute this pound,” Myles argued.

Responding, Bertel Moore, the People’s National Party councillor for the Negril Division and mayor of Savanna-la-Mar, said that while the designated pound for stray animals in the parish is small, the animals will only be there for short periods, as they will be auctioned after 10 days.

“To be honest, I do agree with you that the place is small, but we only keep animals in the pound for a certain period of time. Once that period of time is over, you know what happens,” Moore said.

“We are not going to be having 200 animals in there; as soon as that 10 days are over we will be auctioning them. It’s small ,but we will have to move with what we have,” he insisted.

Moore informed that the lease arrangement between the corporation and Pan Caribbean will be handled by the newly transferred chief executive officer, Andre Griffiths, who is going to be out of office for a period of time, which he did not disclose.