MONTEGO BAY, St James — After at least a year of cattle grazing on land in the heavily trafficked Catherine Hall area of Montego Bay the city’s deputy mayor, Councillor Richard Vernon, has vowed to push for legislative changes in the next fiscal year to address the safety hazard.

He said he has been taking steps to solve the problem but anticipates that real progress will be made in this latest push.

“It’s two pieces of legislation — the Keeping of Animals Act and the Pound Act — to review, get some adjustments, and also to work with what is in it in an appropriate way so that we can achieve what we want,” Vernon told the
Jamaica Observer when asked what was being done to address the threat cattle grazing at Catherine Hall poses to road users.

Last year, within a short period of time, there were at least three deaths in the nearby parish of Westmoreland after cattle strayed onto the road. In St James the animals are sometimes seen walking along the busy road that joins Marco Brown Boulevard to Howard Cooke Boulevard; they have also been seen near Montego Bay Sports Complex at Catherine Hall. Concerned residents have written letters urging the local authorities to address the issue.

Vernon has assured that it is being addressed within the wider context of the two pieces of legislation.

“The Keeping of Animals Act enables us to restrict an area to animals… It does not refer to dogs and cats and the sort — we talking about cattle, we talking about goats, we talking about sheep and others,” he told the
Observer.

“Once we restrict a particular area — for example the city of Montego Bay — to animals, then you will have to get a permit to have the animals within the space. Without that permit the animal could be impounded and you could face penalties for having the animals without permission in that space,” he added.

The deputy mayor insisted that he tabled a resolution at a meeting of St James Municipal Corporation last year.

“It is also something that was raised by public health because you have persons who keep their animals in inappropriate spaces such as in their homes, [they have] cows and goats in their yards,” said Vernon.

Utilising the upgraded legislations will require a working animal pound, another hurdle the local authorities will have to overcome. There is now none in St James.

“We were reviewing the failure of the previous pound and what we saw was that the penalties were not stringent enough,” explained Vernon.

Under existing legislation a private contractor can be selected to operate the pound; however the venture has not proven financially attractive.

“It is like a waste for a private operator because, based on what is stipulated in the legislation, it would not be sustainable for a private operator to operate the pound,” asserted Vernon.

“It’s not feasible but we are looking at several things. It is something that we will get done when we resume in the next fiscal year and start to look at how we budget out the year, and priority projects, and the tagline projects that we will be championing as the local authority,” the deputy mayor added.

He is adamant that the owner of the cattle grazing at Catherine Hall will be identified.

“Somebody is responsible for them being there and, at this point in time, what we need to do is to reach out to that person and ask them to remove the animals from there, then we can now look at how we manage that space,” Vernon said.

He noted that there are major projects planned for the area. These include National Baking Company Limited’s $6.7-billion state-of the-art bakery for which ground was broken on January 9.

“Even in that same space, development is happening. And we have to ensure that we provide a space that is safe for motorists as well because if one of those animals should venture onto the highway, and even one of the secondary roadways, it can cause accidents, it can claim lives,” Vernon warned.

“We have a responsibility to the people, we have a responsibility to protect the space, so we will be implementing the necessary laws that will help us to ensure that cohesiveness and cohesion is ascertained within the city of Montego Bay,” he promised.