Wild animals feasting on crops, livestock in Baracara: No progress on resolving issue; Village Chairman takes the blame

…“The residents have no sheep. The jaguar – every night or every other day…they must just have like two or three dogs remaining because of the jaguar.”

Chairman of Baracara, Marshall Thompson, has taken full responsibility for the lack of progress in ensuring mechanisms are in place to assist residents of that riverine community in dealing with wild animals eating their crops and livestock.
During a visit to the community in November last, Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha met with residents and farmers who raised several issues related to agricultural development and other community needs.

Among them was the destruction of crops by wild animals in the community, some also feasting on livestock. Monkeys and rabbits frequently invade farmlands, destroying crops like cassava, bananas, and plantains.
But Chairman of Baracara, Marshall Thompson, speaking with this publication on Friday, explained that there is a more serious problem as dogs being kept as pets, and those for security purposes, are also falling prey to the wild animals.
“The wild animals are affecting us tremendously. Presently, we have a jaguar, which we normally call a tiger, but it is a jaguar in our backyards. It is destroying the [domestic] animals. On the side that we call the forest, the residents have no sheep. The jaguar – every night or every other day…they must just have like two or three dogs remaining because of the jaguar would come out and attack the animals… We have a lot of rabbits, and they are affecting the farms. The monkeys are destroying the corn and those things. Wild animals are affecting us tremendously and we need some firearms,” the Village Chairman said.
During the meeting residents had asked for arrangements to be made for them to be issued with a community firearm.
Mustapha had said he could not encourage them to “shoot the wild life,” but would make arrangements for the a representative group to meet with the Home Affairs Ministry to address that aspect.
However, asked about the engagement with the Agriculture Minister, and whether there had been any developments since the November meeting, Thompson said there has been no progress in relation to the firearm issue.
“I have to blame myself because the Minister told me that let me get some persons from the community. We have already a farming group. They told me to take some people to Georgetown, to the office in Eve Leary for us to do some paperwork… I was busy and it just slipped like that. But I will get back to the Minister and let him give us a date where we can be able to go back to do the arrangements that we had,” he admitted however.
This ongoing problem has led to significant financial losses for many households that rely heavily on farming for their livelihood. The situation has grown worse over the past year due to habitat encroachment and limited barriers between forested areas and farmlands, pushing animals closer to cultivated land in search of food.