AMA To Confiscate Stray Animals

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) will from today, confiscate all stray animals, a measure to control animal rearing in the metropolis. Subsequently, owners of the animals who fail to report to the AMA after the confiscation of their animals will be summoned and prosecuted at the law courts. The animals include dogs, goats, sheep and cattle. The Chief Executive of AMA, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, announce this in Accra yesterday during an inspection of some on-going projects in the metropolis. Some of the projects are the Mamponse Storm Drainage Improvement Project, the Mallam-Apenkwa road, solid waste management at the Arts Centre and a 2.3 kilometre Dansoman road project. He said a team of 170 sanitary officers would be deployed to embark on the exercise to ensure its smooth implementation. Mr Vanderpuije said the situation of stray animals in the metropolis often created ugly scenes on the roads and sometimes resulting in heavy traffic jams. He said this situation posed danger for both pedestrians and motorists since the animals could sometimes attack passers-by. The director of the AMA Public Health Department, Dr Simpson Anim Boateng, spoke of the assembly�s readiness to effectively eliminate the menace. As part of the assembly�s readiness, he said, a holding area had been put in place to house confiscate animals. Dr Boateng said as an alternative punishment, the animals could be auctioned to the public when the owners fail to come for them, which could generate some revenue for the assembly. He said prior to the start of the exercise, a number of sensitization programmes would be undertaken to raise public awareness. Dr Boateng advised owners of animals, especially livestock, to exercise due care in order not to fall foul of the by-law.