Animals at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) pound off Hagley Park Road graze on dried grass this week. The animals were collected after being found wandering the streets and the KSAC is considering finding a new facility. - Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer THE KINGSTON and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) is still looking for a suitable location in its access area to house an animal pound as conditions at the current facility on Ambrook Lane, off Hagley Park Road, St. Andrew continue to deteriorate.
The facility remains in a state of disrepair since Hurricane Gilbert all but destroyed the property 14 years ago.
There are holes in the walls of the pen that should hold the animals and shelters are without roofs and doors. There is also no grazing ground in the concreted area for the impounded animals, some of whose owners reportedly lack the finances to claim them.
A supervisor at the pound, whose quarters also needed minor repairs, said this week that animals are taken to the pound when they are seen roaming and posing a nuisance to motorists and pedestrians. He said that owners usually turn up searching for their animals when they go missing.
The owners also have to pay to have the pound feed the animals, as the keepers have to go to green pastures to get grass for the animals to eat.
Town Clerk Errol Greene said the KSAC was still having problems trying to locate a suitable place in the city. Last January, Mr. Greene said it was senseless to make repairs to the pound when the Corporation was considering whether or not to move it from its urban location.
The pound services areas as far as Harbour View, Mavis Bank and Bull Bay, St. Andrew.
The KSAC has been looking at a number of rural and suburban properties owned by the Corporation to facilitate the pound which currently has about 15 cows and goats that were found roaming the streets.
Meanwhile, at least two other parishes are having problems with stray animals, warranting the need for proper animal pounds.
St. Elizabeth has reported problems with animals roaming the streets and being annoyances in Black River, but the animal pound is still on hold pending debt settlement with Aluminium Partners of Jamaica (Alpart), the owners of land in Myersville - the proposed site for the new pound. The Parish Council indicated last month that the pound should be established by year end.
St. Catherine's animal pound is also still in the works, with a proposed site at Bernard Lodge, South St. Catherine. Stray animals continue to flock to the new housing developments and cause accidents on the roads.
