AMENDMENTS ARE to be made to the Pound Act to remove the constraints being experienced by local authorities in their efforts to deal with the problem of stray animals.
A spokesperson at the Ministry of Local Government, Youth and Community Development said the Ministry was working with local authorities to ensure that there was at least one operational pound in each parish.
Non-functioning pounds were being repaired and upgraded, and new pounds established in areas where none existed.
Further, an Inter-Agency Task Force comprising both public and private sector organisations, has been established to help formulate a comprehensive policy on the keeping and control of animals.
Holding owners
The Ministry said that some of the matters currently being addressed included ways to dispose of impound animals, the identification of owners of these animals, and holding owners of stray animals liable for damage to person or property.
Montego Bay Mayor Hugh Solomon said the St. James Parish Council was working in collaboration with Western Parks and Markets (WPM) to confront the problem of stray animals.
He said the Parish Council and WPM had been impounding stray animals, but noted that there was a difficulty in auctioning these animals because there were few buyers. This, he said, resulted in the animals being kept for extended periods at the expense of the Council.
Mayor Solomon proposed that the Pound Act be amended to allow for the "slaughtering" of impounded animals which could be given to infirmaries and hospitals.
Enclosed areas
One of the parishes without a pound is Manchester. Mande-ville Mayor Horace Williams said the Parish Council was in talks with a bauxite company to secure a parcel of "mined out land" to establish a pound.
In the meantime, he appealed to animal owners to keep them off the streets and confine them to enclosed areas.
Currently, there are six operational pounds in Kingston and St. Andrew, Portland, Clarendon, St. Thomas, St. Ann and St. James.
The pound in St. Ann is managed by North Eastern Parks and Markets (NEPM) and serves St. Ann, St. Mary and Trelawny.
The local Government Ministry said the relevant Parish Councils were currently putting in place measures to enable the repair and refurbishing of pounds in St. Thomas, Portland and Clarendon.
Lands have been identified by the Parish Councils in Hanover, St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland for the establishment of animals pounds and the Trelawny, St. Catherine and St. Mary parish councils are taking steps to identify suitable lands.
