MONTEGO BAY, St James — The St James Parish Council has given Dr Ucal Thompson, a former PNP councillor for the Railway Gardens Division in Montego Bay, two weeks to get rid of an annoying animal stench emanating from his home.

The 14-day notice to Thompson which was served under the Public Health Act on Tuesday, followed a discovery by the local authority that the smell of rabbits was annoying residents in the vicinity of the intersection of Park and Davis Avenues, near Montego Bay’s upscale Leader’s Avenue community.

“We had to serve a notice on Dr Ucal Thompson for having a whole heap of animals on his premises at the intersection between Park Avenue and Davis Avenue and causing a nuisance to other residents as a result of a foul odour emanating from his premises. He has about 60 rabbits, peacocks, chickens, pigeons, all of them being reared for commercial purposes. Based on inquiries we made they are being reared and sold. You can’t do that type activity in a residential area to impact upon your neighbour,” said Montego Bay Mayor, Charles Sinclair who chairs the St James Parish Council.

“In his case although he should have the knowledge we didn’t treat him different from any other person. He was issued with a notice to cease and desist that type of activity at the location,” added Sinclair who is also a lawyer.

A livid Dr Thompson yesterday refused to comment –on the record–when the Observer West called him and insisted in discourteous language that this newspaper refrain from publishing the story.

Failure by Dr Thompson to find a more suitable home for the animals will lead to him being prosecuted by the local authority.

“He got 14 days based on the number of animals and the number of pens that the animals were in. We said 14 days would be sufficient… If he does not, we going to have to prosecute him,” said Sinclair.

According to Sinclair– who has this week intensified an enforcement campaign of municipal regulations– his office, accompanied by members of the Municipal Police visited the area after receiving complaints that the overpowering stench was wreaking havoc among the residents in the area.

“When we got to the location we were able to detect exactly which house the smell was emanating from,” Sinclair explained. “I didn’t know it was Dr Thompson until we got there and spoke to persons. We normally give persons an opportunity to comply as we don’t think everything we should prosecute,” said Sinclair. According to Observer West sources, rabbit meat retails at approximately $800 per pound on the local market.