Gone to the Dogs

Public Utilites Minister Rennie Dumas created quite a stir as he responded to a question filed by Barataria/San Juan MP on the number, date and exact location of the Dead Dogs that were retrieved by the Dead Animal Retrieval Team (DART) of CEPEP.

Dumas said over the period December 2002 and May 2003, 233 carcasses were retrieved, comprising 195 dogs and 38 cats. Dumas said that details of the dates and exact location were lodged with the Clerk of the House. He added, with a straight face, that it should be noted that apart from the carcasses collected by DART, numerous others were retrieved by CEPEP. “A tabulation was not done but an attempt will be made to do so in the future,” he said, causing an uproar on both the Government and Opposition benches. Above the noise, Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal could be heard asking jocularly whether any rotweillers were caught. 

The UNC MP added:  “The Minister seems to know more about dogs than what goes on in WASA”. A detailed document of which each dog was later retrieved was released to the media. The Priority Bus Route, the Uriah Butler Highway, the Beetham Highway, Churchill Roosevelt Highway, the Eastern and Western Main Roads were among the popular locations where dogs were found.