AFTER SPENDING at least $15 000 to acquire and farm Red Poll bulls, Bret Tuleja is calling it quits after the bulls were attacked by wild dogs.
He is therefore calling on individuals to keep their dogs on their properties or to at least secure them so they cannot damage other people’s animals.
Tuleja said on Tuesday night the dogs attacked the four bulls on his Kirtons Farm, St Philip, killing one of the six-month-old bulls. Another was mauled and needed veterinary care.
Yesterday, Tuleja said he acquired the bulls about a month ago at $1 000 each.
Since he wanted them to be free range, he invested $12 000 erecting a four-foot barbed wire fence to secure them.
“These bulls got out and went all the way to Bushy Park so we had to track them down. We figured that the bulls were just interested in getting out to be with a heifer. We could not figure out why they left and how they got through the barbed wire fence until we realised the dogs were chasing them out,” he said.
He was also concerned that the dogs could attack children.
“When the dogs get in a pack they are just vicious. We got to get rid of these kinds of dogs running around Barbados; this is dangerous. Just imagine if that was a child.”
Tuleja said the incident had turned him off so much, he would not be trying his hands at farming cows anymore. He has given away the three surviving bulls to another farmer to raise.
“We decided that’s it, we are done farming. We spent a lot of money and it was an exercise in frustration,” he said, adding that other farmers in the area had also lost animals. (LK)
