Renford Stewart shows the scars on his neck and arm.
Erica James-King, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
STRAY ANIMALS have been wreaking havoc around the country, causing motor vehicle accidents and even the death of motorists. But the nuisance could continue a while longer in western Jamaica because impounding crew are refusing to go after stray animals without the assistance of the police.
This, because the men are being attacked by angry mobs who demand that they allow the animals to roam the streets. Members of the St. James pound crew do daily battle with mobs who point guns into their faces, throw stones at them and verbally abuse them. Many still have the scars from machete wounds inflicted by gangs who object to them impounding the animals.
Frustration levels are running high among the St. James pound crew who man the only pound truck operating in the parishes of St. James, Trelawny, Westmoreland and Hanover. Communities most feared are: Duncans and Braco in Trelawny; Whitehouse and Savanna-la-Mar in Westmoreland and Albion, Irwin and Westgate Hills in St. James.
For more than two weeks, the men have refused to hit the roads to remove stray animals, and have vowed that if they cannot be guaranteed police protection round-the-clock, they will not impound another stray animal.
"Our lives are constantly in danger, right now we can't go into some communities to do our rightful duties, as the people will attack us," complains Rupert Kerr, the driver of the pound truck for three years. "Residents stone us, chop us and even beat us up, just for doing our job."
The men said that just over three weeks ago, a former councillor of the St. James Parish Council, accosted and threatened to shoot them. One man was even dragged from the pound truck, they said.
HARASSED
Clovis Ancel, an attendant on the pound truck, is still having difficulty standing. He was the man who was reportedly dragged from the truck. But this kind of treatment, as he carries out his duties ridding the streets of stray animals, is not new to him.
"About six years ago, I went near Duncans in Trelawny to collect cows. At that time I was working with the pound truck for Western Parks and Markets and we were ganged by some residents who wanted us to let the animals out of the truck, one used a stone to burst my head," recounted Mr. Clovis.
Of another experience, he said, "We were working one night in Whitehouse, Westmoreland, and some men gang us, let the cow dem out of the truck and draw gun pon wi. In trying to escape, a light wire catch me around me neck and me pass out. I never know myself till I wake up two days later in Cornwall Regional Hospital."
Renford "Blacka" Stewart is the newest addition to the pound truck crew. He has only worked on the present pound truck for two months. But even this new recruit has tell-tale scars of the dark side of the impounding business.
According to "Blacka", four weeks ago when they tried to catch animals in Westgate Hills in St. James, some men started stoning the truck.
"We run and the driver drive off quickly, same time my neck become entangled in a telephone wire nearby and it dig off the skin around my neck. The telephone wire cause me to flip backway and cut-up mi hand on some iron on the truck," lamented Mr. Stewart.
POLICE ESCORT
Declaring his refusal to subject his men and himself to further acts of aggression, Mr. Kerr said, "We continue to report to work every day, but we are not catching any stray animals if we don't have police escort."
Hayden Marks, commercial services manager with the St. James Parish Council, told The Sunday Gleaner, "The gentlemen who work on the pound truck have advised me that a former councillor has confronted them not once, but twice, on the road while they were carry out their duties, threatening that he would bring harm to them, if he saw them collecting any cows in the Albion area.
"We have to have the police assigned to the truck to provide security for the men, because it is a dangerous job."
He disclosed that the Parish Council has sent a letter to the police requesting that they provide protection for the crew.
Meanwhile, Superintendent Newton Amos, head of the St. James Police, said his department is committed to helping the pound crew, noting that much of the accidents on roads in the parish is caused by stray animals.
