Over the last three years, the Ministry of Agriculture has captured a little over 2,700 animals, including 217 this year.
This was highlighted by the Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment, Dr Mahendra Reddy at a press conference yesterday where he announced the launching of ‘Operation Vesu Manumanu’, a joint inter-agency exercise aimed at trapping stray animals in public places.
“Stray animals have now become a threat to agriculture expansion. People are losing their crops to stray animals. Road users have lost their lives from road fatalities because of stray animals on the roads. Since the borders will open soon we want our highways to be safe. With the festive season approaching there will be an influx of families traveling on the road and we along with our stakeholders want to ensure the safety of these commuting families,” the Minister said.
He said despite the Ministry of Agriculture assisting in capturing and impounding stray animals, the problem continued.
“The main reason is that animal owners are not responsible and do not take ownership of their animals,” the Minister said.
“If one looks at the Ministry of Agriculture complaints database the issue of stray animals tops the statistics. Apart from dogs and wild pigs, stray cattle and horses are of the greatest concern for our farming communities.
“In 2019, the Ministry of Agriculture officially received 620 complaints for stray animals, whilst in 2020 we received 720 complaints and this year so far we have received 738 complaints. The complaints are increasing every year,” he said.
The Minister explained the complaints included damaging of crops, trespassing properties, causing harm to other livestock, animals on the road and contributing to road fatalities, and spreading of diseases such as TB.
“To deal with the issue of stray animals, the Ministry of Agriculture implements the Pounds Act and the Brands Act through its regulatory unit.”
Under the Pounds Act, Dr Reddy said, the Ministry establishes, runs and maintains livestock pounds around Fiji. The Ministry, he adds, provides short-term holding facilities for impounding stray animals.
“Ideally, under the provision of the Pounds Act, the farmers or property owners whose farm or property had been trespassed or damaged, have to catch the animals and bring it to the pound themselves. The Ministry does not go out and catch the animals on your property.
“However, recently we have set up a Stray team within our Regulatory division to assist farmers in capturing animals and impounding them. It’s an expensive, very laborious and risky exercise,” the Minister explained.
Dr Reddy said another challenge was the legal identification of animals where under the Brands Act, every cattle and horse a person kept had to be branded.
“Even if you have one animal, you need to have it branded. Brands allow for a quick animal identification so that your valuable animals can be traced back and returned to you in the event of theft.”
He said despite several awareness in the villages and communities there was not much success as complaints of stray animals were received on a daily basis across Ministry of Agriculture stations.