WESTMORELAND, Jamaica – Albert Dennison had high hopes of sharing a ham at Christmas dinner with his son but that was not to be. His world was shattered when he got the news at church on Christmas Eve that his son died tragically after the motorcycle he was driving collided with a cow. The elderly Dennison is blaming the relevant authorities for failing to build an animal pound for the untethered animals.

Odane Dennison suffered serious head injuries during the crash on the Petersfield main road in Westmoreland.

“Sunday I was at church and [my friend] came to me and to be honest he just gave me [the news] suddenly that my son died. So mi seh weh you mean him dead. Him seh the bike kill him, cow and him,” the distraught father recalled.

“Him even asked me, ‘Daddy you eat ham?’ And mi seh yes. Him seh him go carry it come give me,” the distraught father told Observer Online on Thursday.

He said the animals are left to wander on the streets.

“The cows on the street dem, nobody cares and you have nobody to talk to. Because on the same road two bike guys die…..school guys and I see a cow man running his cows and talking. The government only cares about [ I don’t know], they only talk. Dem seh dem a mek pound fi di cows dem, but nobody,” the distressed father belted.

The father said it is not his son’s first encounter with a cow along the same thoroughfare.

“It’s on the same road he met [in an] accident with the car and come dead there with his bike now. So nobody cares about this cow business. If we can recall a cow kill a policeman, nobody don’t care. Pure talk we talk. I don’t care it’s which government, a pure talk we talk. We need action now!,” the father stressed.

A cow, he said, jumped in his late son’s car and damaged the vehicle. When he went to the Whithorn Police Station to report the incident, the cow was gone.

“The man took the cow and guh sell it at Lucea,” the 68-year-old said, noting that his son was his caregiver and breadwinner after he had a stroke six years ago.

He said while he blames the authorities, his warnings to his son fell on deaf ears.

“He came here Thursday, I was round there drinking tea, and I saw him on a big bike because he has a little white car. I said Odane, where you get this bike from and him seh a fi him. I said you sell the car and buy bike? Him seh no daddy,” the father recalled.

The father said he was worried his son would meet the same faith as his late friend.

“You wah dead like how Craig dead Odane because Craig have a car like what you have and him ride a bike and kill himself, do you want to die? ‘Him seh me nah dead daddy!,” the father questioned.

Meanwhile, in commenting on the issue, president of the Westmoreland Chamber of Commerce Elaine Allen-Bradley is also echoing her calls for the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation to act, and get the strays off the roadways.

“It’s very sad to know that we’ve been grappling with these stray animals and people getting killed for so long. And we’ve had so many promises and nothing is being done, just talks as usual,” she argued.

“Our mayor Mr Moore did promise from July and earlier, a pound and some sort of repercussion from the owners of the cattles. Yet we see nothing happened, nobody is being brought to book,” she stressed.

“This cannot [continue to] happen, we need to do something, lives have been lost. He [Odane] lost his life through carelessness. But we as community members and agencies should try to do something to prevent loss of lives. The local government that is supposed to put things in place to prevent all these things,” she bemoaned.

Last July, Mayor Bertel Moore told the Observer that a pound is to be built in Frome in the parish in collaboration with the Pan-Caribbean Sugar Company.

But Allen-Bradley said a timeline is needed.

“It’s coming, but when? Christmas next year is coming as well and so we need something to be done. We should look after our people, they are our assets,” she chided.

In addressing the issue Deputy Mayor Ian Myles said the reinstallation of the pound is long overdue and is needed urgently.

“This [The pound] is something that we have long called for .I especially would have raised that issue in the council years ago that we need to reinstate the pound. To date it is slow in coming, it is taking far too long if you ask me to materialise and it is something that is needed urgently,” he explained.

“It is a sad state and I just want to utter my deepest condolences and sincerest sympathies to the family of the young man who would have lost his life tragically albeit by hitting a cow just recently,”.

“As a corporation, as a municipality we as leaders need to ensure that the laws are entrenched, that they are there to guide and protect the lives of all citizens and this is one of those issues that has deep long on the books, plaguing and wreaking havoc,” he added

Myles said come next municipal general meeting, January 2024, the matter ought to be dealt with expeditiously.

He is also warming the farmers to take responsibility for their animals.

“You need to be more responsible in your actions, you cannot just let the animals on the road at will, because commuters and users of the roadway are the ones that are going to face the danger,” he argued.

Myles also cautioned road users to be vigilant as the roadways are “filled with stray animals.”