MINISTER of Home Affairs, Mr. Clement Rohee said, Monday, he does not think that animals impounded in police stations are left to starve to death, because those persons responsible for instituting the Pounds Programme are not inhumane and have no feelings for them. He was reacting to an article published in a section of the print media, which highlighted the plight of unclaimed stray donkeys in pounds at police stations.
“I don’t think they were left to starve to death. That signals a kind of ill will/disinterest on the part of the police in the stations in which the animals die. The truth of the matter is we have discovered that, since day one of the Stray Catchers Programme, nobody is coming forward to claim the donkeys,†Rohee pointed out.
The publication mentioned goats, sheep, cows, even horses but he said no one is claiming the donkeys. “I think there should be an investigation as to why donkeys are not being claimed,†he suggested.
Noting the claim is that only impounded donkeys are being seriously affected when kept in a particular environment, he said there is some truth in it, as he was told, by a veterinarian, that they should be kept in wide open spaces and it was recognised that not all pounds have that space.
Rohee said they have since recognised that people are not coming forward to claim the donkeys and, as such, they will have to change their modus operandi and find a larger place to keep the donkeys.
At the same time, the minister said it is not fair, in the context of road safety, for the donkeys to be roaming around aimlessly and they pick them up but nobody claims them.
“Now that we have realised that it is a pattern, the decision can’t be, if nobody is claiming them, we should leave them alone because they could cause an accident,†he reasoned.
Rohee observed it was reported, in the print media, that the days of donkey carts are fast disappearing since most people are buying vehicles because things are becoming more modernised in the country.
He said: â€In society, we are hardly finding people establishing a new dray or donkey carts. They don’t do it anymore, so the jackasses are becoming obsolete in that sense because people don’t have use for them.â€
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