Dear Editor,
The very small cattle, sheep and goat farmers of Kilcoy, Chesney and Fyrish Village are being put out of business by the selfishness of an extremely large poultry farmer in the area. He has completely wiped out one of them and is in the process of destroying some more.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency Guidelines on poultry farming, the location of the poultry pens is supposed to be 164 feet downwind, not only to avoid the filthy odour but to avoid the risks of contamination. A few of his pens are next to peoples’ houses and one has to literally run when passing on the streets. If the EPA is concerned about peoples’ health then why is this being allowed in a residential area? This has been going on for years and no one has done anything about it. This is endangering the health of people and should be stopped with immediate effect.
Next, the guidelines have clearly stated that a poultry facility should be fenced and secured from the hazards of pests and stray animals. At this man’s facility, there are no fences and this is what has caused great losses to these small-scale animal farmers. He placed disinfectant in containers for his workmen to wash their feet before entering the pens, but animals which stray into his unfenced facilities drink their fill from these poisonous substances resulting in many deaths. This is drought season and the animals are thirsty, and furthermore there is very little grazing around which is why these animals are roving around. When the owners of these animals approached him he arrogantly stated that the land belonged to him and people should keep out their animals. How uncaring for a man who depends on people to buy his chicken.
Four of these farmers have so far been affected in the past month resulting in the death of five cows, seventeen goats and four sheep. This may seem small, but to these people who depend on these animals to supplement their small incomes, this is a great loss. Should he not compensate these poor people? The EPA should question the poultry farmer as to why he has not fenced his facility and the Pesticide Board should conduct an investigation as to why he can use these poisonous
substances without any safeguards.
It is time that this big businessman was not allowed to break the law with impunity.
Yours faithfully,
Haseef Yusuf
Councillor
Region 6
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Dr Indarjit Ramdass, Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency for any comment he would like to make.
