THERE?HAS?been a reign of terror at a St George farm by both thieves and dogs that is costing its owners $60 000.
The mayhem at the Golden Ridge Farm, owned jointly by Adrienne Norton and Bill Tempro, began in December when thieves made off with 500 of their turkeys. Over the weekend, wild dogs ripped through the fence of the three-acre farm and mauled 130 turkeys, leaving another 40 bitten and fighting for their lives.
Yesterday morning, ten more died and in the afternoon another three perished.
Over $40 000 was lost in last month’s raid when thieves pulled down barbed wire and drove off in a truck with the dozens of turkeys, while Norton and Tempro suffered $25 000 in losses over the last few days when at least half-dozen vicious dogs tore through the side of the fence and pounced on the turkeys in the wee hours of Monday.
Chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS), James Paul, who visited the scene yesterday, denounced the attack and took issue with dog owners who failed to license their animals.
“What has happened is very unacceptable. The thing is, when things like this occur, the farmer isn’t compensated. It is unfortunate that we have persons in this country who own animals who cannot control them, leave them to go astray and don’t report it to the relevant authorities,” he said.
Paul told the MIDWEEK?NATION the events in December and over the weekend would hurt an industry that was battling for survival.
“We are paying lip service. We have not accepted the fact that people need to look for employment for themselves and that is why we can’t encourage people to go into agriculture when at the same time, we are doing things as individuals to frustrate people.
“It’s a serious issue and should be treated as seriously as we treat predial larceny. We can’t be satisfied with the situation any more where things are happening that undermine the ability of farmers to make a living,” he said.
Paul called on animal control officers in the Ministry of Agriculture to play a bigger role in cracking down on stray dogs.
“We talk about special patrols in relation to protecting tourists on the beaches but we also need to ask those in the ministry who are responsible
for the control of animals, to come out, work with the farmers and see if they can control some of these animals and prevent what happened to Miss Norton’s farm from recurring. I would like civil servants to get out there and do the job they are supposed to do.
“We need to stop these wild animals from undermining the ability of farmers to make a living and it is not only happening in relation to poultry, as a large number of sheep are lost by attacks from wild dogs.”
Norton said she discovered the dead birds on Monday morning in the pen and noticed the dog prints.
“We had about 300 turkeys, so it is a devastating loss as almost two-thirds of the turkeys are either dead or badly hurt. We are the only ones who do turkeys all year round . . . . We sell our birds to the supermarkets fresh, so this is a major setback to us,” said the American, who has been running the farm for the last 15 years.
