Dear Editor,
Animals are left to stray on the roadways of this country, and it is clear that we have made the roads a pasture, while the authorities have been unable or reluctant to stop this.
Before I go any further I wish to draw attention to the fact that Suriname and Trinidad are two of our closest neighbours, yet you can drive the length and breadth of both countries and not run into a dog or cat on the roads. What is wrong with us that we must contend with animals on our roadways?
Our Minister of Home Affairs, who is entrusted with the responsibility of keeping our roads safe has proven beyond a shadow of doubt that he is either incapable of removing the animals from our roads or he just doesn’t care about them. We will not even mention the spiralling crime rate and the amount of violence that goes on unchecked under his watch.
We, who own these animals, have an obligation to our own fellow man to keep them off the roads. Why is there a herd of cattle on the streets of New Amsterdam? Why are horses, donkeys and cows roaming and sleeping on our roads? Where is our sense of responsibility and our concern for the lives and property that are destroyed because we have our livestock on the roads? Must we sit back and expect that the incompetent Minister must do all of this? We must take care of our animals and do so with an understanding that if they are not kept in a controlled environment they will cause grief to a lot of people. Can we not even remotely understand how dangerous it is to have animals on the roads?
I ask all owners of animals and the Minister of Home Affairs to make our roads safe. Keep the animals off the roads. There are laws that allow for this.
Yours faithfully,
Charrandass Persaud
