MEMBER of Parliament (MP) for Westmoreland Western, Morland Wilson is calling for the establishment of an animal pound in light of the danger stray animals pose to motorists after three crashes involving animals occurred in his constituency.

Wilson made the plea during his contribution to the State of the Constituency Debate in the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

“I renew my calls to the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, the mayor of Savanna-la-Mar Bertel Moore, to move with haste in establishing an animal pound to contain stray animals. We see the mayor has admitted on record as saying we have noticed stray animals on our streets. So it is not hearsay, Westmoreland [has been] waiting for a pound for over six years,” he said.

The National Road Safety Council (NRSC) has reported that since the start of the year, six people died as a result of collisions with stray animals that ventured onto roadways. There are also reports of crashes that have not resulted in death.

Five of the crashes involved cows; while the other crash was caused by a dog. These collisions claimed the lives of four victims who were motorcyclists, one a pillion rider, while the other was a passenger travelling in a private motor car.

The Westmoreland victims include 22-year-old Police Constable Tajay Ebanks whose car collided with a cow along the Mango Hill main road; 22-year-old Christopher Samuels who met his demise when the vehicle he was travelling in collided with a cow along Bay Road; and a 75-year-old pensioner who lost control of the motorcycle he was driving after a dog ran onto the Whithorn main road.

Two crashes occurred in St Elizabeth and one in St Mary.

The MP also called on the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to actively start identifying owners of these animals and provide them with training.

“These training should include livestock rearing and caring, and importantly, tagging their animals for safety and security,” adding that the tagging of animals will go a far way in reducing praedial larceny and identifying animals in case of theft and recovery.

Turning to the issue of motorcycle taxis, for which his constituency is known, Morland lamented that there is nothing in the Road Traffic Act that supports the use of motorcycles as taxis.

The MP said he is therefore seeking the support of Science, Energy, Telecommunications and Transport Minister Daryl Vaz in formulating a policy to govern the use of motorcycles as public passenger transportation.