Dear Editor,

I have noted with great concern the number of animals that are allowed to stray on our roadways, particularly the herds of cattle and the numerous donkeys and horses.

Our laws do not allow this, so why should our law enforcement officers allow it? Have there not been enough deaths that were directly caused by animals? Why are the owners so insensitive to the threat their animals represent by allowing them to roam on the roads?  Why are the powers-that-be allowing lives to be lost in this way? I guess these powers-that-be are themselves insensitive to the loss of life on the roads.

Every day there can be found at least a dozen cattle on the roads in New Amsterdam. They bed down at night under the Town Hall and the filth and stench is reminiscent of a cowpen. For the years that I have been practising law in New Amsterdam I have never heard the Mayor comment on this disgrace once. The town of New Amsterdam is a dismal place and it looks like a pasture.

I would suggest that the job of ridding the roads of stray animals could be contracted out, and after strays are impounded, owners should be given two weeks to take their animals home before they are destroyed.  In conclusion there will always be people ready to do the job of the Mayor and the Minister of Home Affairs, but they are the ones in authority, so they should do their job.

Yours faithfully,
Charrandass Persaud