Road menace

THE EDITOR, Madam:

With reference to a recent issue of The Gleaner and an article concerning the death of a motorcyclist due to collision with a stray cow, this is a regular occurrence on our roads.

In this day and age, when beef is the cheapest meat in the island, at least Jamaican beef is, cattle are allowed to roam the streets at will, damaging or maiming and sometimes, killing the travelling public.

The natural solution should be staring everyone in the face. The parish Parks and Markets pound trucks should be on the roads every day taking these animals off the roads. Any animals not collected after three days should be slaughtered and the meat sold at a reasonable rate to the island's poor houses, hospitals, prisons and schools. This way, at least we'd kill two birds with the one stone, so to speak, and the nominal cost would pay back the Parks and Markets trucks for the expense of collecting these strays.

Our highways and byways would then be safe from at least this menace and any future potential livestock owners would think twice before purchasing animals to run wild on the roads, damaging property and life.

I am, etc.,

JEREMY HOOD-DANIEL
Robins River
Bluefields
Westmoreland

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