SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Daphne Holmes, who served as People’s National Party (PNP) councillor for the Brae’s River Division, as well as mayor of Black River and chairman of what was then the St Elizabeth Parish Council in the 1990s and early 2000s, has prized memories of those days.

Among her recollections is an animal pound on the compound of the parish council, now the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation, in Black River.

“We had a lady (who worked with animal collection crews on trucks) who would wring the cow tail (if the animal was reluctant to exit the truck)… I remember her all the time,” a chuckling Holmes, who turns 90 in November, told the Jamaica Observer by telephone last week.

That pound, then administered by the parish council in an effort to keep cows, donkeys, goats and other farm animals off St Elizabeth’s roads, eventually folded close to 30 years ago.

Now, against a backdrop of persistent complaints of livestock on the loose, presenting a menace to road users as well as extensively damaging farmers’ crops, an animal pound is again in the making. This time, it will be run by a private company, Mitchell’s Security, headed by Rupert Mitchell. That entity has operated a similar facilty in St Thomas for more than a year.

Mayor of Black River, Derrick Sangster, said at last month’s meeting of the St Elizabeth Municipal Corporation that five acres of land had been made available for the pound at Myersville, south-east of Santa Cruz. This follows an “arrangement” with the landowners, the currently dormant bauxite/alumina producers, JISCO/Alpart.

Mitchell told the Sunday Observer by telephone that work is moving fast for the pound to become operational “very soon”. The five-acre plot had been enclosed and appropriate signage would be in place this week, he said.

Sangster told the Sunday Observer that “community sensitisation” was currently taking place through such methods as the distribution of leaflets and public announcements using town criers.

Mitchell said livestock found “straying” on roadways and/or on private and State-owned property would be trucked to the pound in Myersville. Costs payable by animal owners to recover their property will vary, with cows and goats expected to be atop the list of strays. Owners will have to fork out $12,000 for each mature cow and $8,000 each for goats. Immature animals will cost “half price”, he said.

Mitchell said there will also be a storage cost of $1,000 per day to “keep and feed” the animals during the first six days after they are taken to the pound. After six days the animals will be auctioned, he said.

Based on his experience operating a pound in St Thomas, Mitchell said it was a challenging and expensive venture. It would be especially difficult in a parish as large as St Elizabeth.

He identified costs including $25,000 per day to operate a truck. Security and care for the animals as well as maintenance of the facility would also constitute a heavy financial burden, he said.

However, Mitchell said the pound in St Thomas — which as far as he knew was the only one of its kind in Jamaica — had functioned effectively and he was confident of similar success in St Elizabeth.

Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth North Western JC Hutchinson is among those welcoming the animal pound — telling the Sunday Observer that it was coming about, largely as a result of intense lobbying by a benevolent society representing small farmers occupying much of the 2,400-acre Holland Estate.

Located in Hutchinson’s constituency adjacent to the world-famous Holland Bamboo, the Holland Estate was dedicated to sugar cane production for hundreds of years before being vacated by rum company, J Wray & Nephew Ltd, in 2019.

Hutchinson, who lost his job as minister without portfolio (with responsibility for agriculture) in the Andrew Holness-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government last year, because of alleged cronyism and nepotism in relation to the current small-farming project at Holland, has repeatedly called for an animal pound to protect disgusted farmers from strays there.

Complaints about stray cattle had also come from J Wray & Nephew in 2018 as the company gave reasons for its decision to pull out of sugar cane production at Holland.

Mitchell confirmed last week that the Holland Estate farmers would be among those targeted for protection when the Myersville animal pound becomes operational.

At the municipal corporation meeting in Black River last month, Sangster said the local authority had come in for sustained criticism for not operating an animal pound, despite the numerous cases of stray livestock endangering road users and damaging farms. But he said, it should be realised that modern-day economic realities made it extremely difficult for local authorities to operate such facilities.

Hence, the move to a private operator, Sangster said.

“I sincerely hope it will redound to the benefit of the parish as a whole,” the Black River mayor, who represents the Mountainside Division for the ruling JLP, said.

Welcoming the new development, Councillor Cetany Holness, Junction Division (JLP), said people — including Members of Parliament — had often rebuked the municipality, saying, we “have no use” because they “can’t even put in place a pound”.