Anna Regina businesses reiterate call for stray animals to be impounded

Several businesses at Anna Regina, Region Two (Pomeroon-Supenaam), have made a stern call to the authorities to impound stray animals that roam the streets on a daily basis.

According to the President of the Essequibo Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ECCI), Aadil Baksh, this occurrence has severely impacted the businesses in the area.
Speaking with Guyana Times, Baksh explained that the issue with stray animals is rising to a crisis level and is affecting businesses, community development, the tourism sector and more importantly, causing vehicular accidents.
He noted that the ECCI made several complaints in the past to the relevant authorities but nothing has been done to remedy the situation. Baksh also noted that the animals being on the roadway has also contributed to a number of vehicular accidents.

“These animals are traffic hazards because vehicles are hitting them. We have a number of accidents that would’ve occurred as a result of stray animals on the road. However, I urge all business owners to be socially responsible and remove any structure or impediments they have that are on the sidewalks obstructing the flow of pedestrian traffic and making our public roadways unsafe and dangerous,” Baksh noted.
On this note, Mayor of the township of Anna Regina, Rajendra Prabulall when contacted confirmed that the Constabulary Department and several stray catchers were granted permission to impound the animals.
“We have several facilities that we could use to impound the animals so, if need be, we have areas that we can impound the animals and take care of them. But we do not want to go down that road. We want to work with the cattle owners to bring about an amicable resolution to the issues that we are facing.”
He added that if the cattle farmers refuse to cooperate, the Council would definitely take matters in its own hands and this would result in farmers paying thousands of dollars to get back their animals.
“But we understand that it is not always that persons will have that kind of money. That is why we are trying to work with them to see how best we can have the cooperation between the municipality and the cattle owners,” Prabulall explained.
The Anna Regina Town Council intends to further engage the Police on the matter and efforts will be made to address the issue at the soonest.