“Shoot them.”
That has been the order given to the police from Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves to deal with the issue of untethered cattle.
While speaking on radio on Sunday, the issue arose about the number of stray cattle roaming the Diamond area, especially within the vicinity of the Sir Vincent Beache Stadium.
“I am clear on this, I’ve told the police already because the law permits it,” Gonsalves said.
He said that he had given similar instructions when there was a similar problem in the Argyle area, and then the aerodrome for the Argyle International Airport was being constructed.
According to Gonsalves, animal owners felt that it was okay to have their animals untied in the area, and I told the police to shoot them.
“The police shot the first one, and that was the end of that,” he said. ‘
There were some people who owned cattle, he explained, but did not have anywhere to keep them.
“There are some things you can keep and some things you can’t keep.”
“You can’t in a modern society let them go on the road and to destroy public facilities which cost millions of dollars,” Gonsalves contended.
The Sir Vincent Beache Stadium at Diamond had already cost EC$40 million.
“And I say shoot them.”
He said that he was being very practical on the matter and that one or two irresponsible persons ought not to hold the rest of the community at ransom.
The issue of untethered animals, especially cattle has been a serious one for some time now with the police issuing a warning back in 2020 for animal owners to tie them.
In the statement, the police indicated that owners of cattle and sheep were keeping their animals untied and was causing a nuisance to communities including Buccament/Pembroke, Diamond and Cane Garden.
the animals often destroyed vegetation on people’s property and created the potential for accidents.
According to the police, under the Stock Trespass Act, Chapter 54 Sections 3 and 4 of the Revised Laws of St Vincent and the Grenadines, ‘the owner of any land may seize and impound any animal found trespassing thereon.’
And under Section 21 of the said Act, the owner of any land has the authority to destroy without undue suffering, any impounded animal found trespassing on his land that caused injury to other animals or plant; notify the owner of the animal, have the carcass destroyed after four hours and if the carcass is not moved within four hours, it can be buried or otherwise disposed of in a sanitary manner.