Stray animals to be 'arrested'
2005-07-28 23:33
Kano - Authorities in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna have set up a squad to "arrest" stray farm animals and a mobile court to fine their owners after a series of freak accidents, officials said on Thursday.
Cows, camels, goats and donkeys have been a common sight on the roads and streets of Nigeria, but their tendency to roam unattended has recently become more controversial after three terrible accidents involving cattle.
In May, 25 people were killed when a truck swerved to avoid a cow and ran into a crowded long-haul bus in the southwest of Nigeria.
Last month, a cow attacked and killed a Lagos bus driver who had stopped to urinate by the road.
Then, on July 7, an Air France passenger jet carrying 196 people narrowly escaped tragedy after it ploughed into a herd of cows wandering on the runway of Port Harcourt Airport, killing seven of them and being damaged itself.
Setting the trend for tightening up rules
Kaduna state in the north of the country had now become the first authority to tighten up the rules on stray animals, said environment commissioner Mohammed Musa Baba.
Animals, he said "have become a serious menace to traffic in the metropolis and a health hazard to the city by littering the streets with their droppings".
"The state government has established mobile courts, backed by law, to arrest and detain any animals seen roaming the streets, especially cows, sheep and goats, which move in herds," he added.
"The mobile courts are to place a fine of 2 000 naira ($15) on each cow arrested while 500 naira will be charged on every other animal," he said.
He said any owner who did not come forward to pay the fine would see his beast auctioned off by the state environment commission.