It was very easy for Social Democratic Liberal Party (SODELPA) member Niko Nawaikula to stand up in Parliament and demand that Agriculture Minister Mahendra Reddy pay Mr Nawaikula’s uncle $1500 for a cow that agriculture officers had impounded.

What Mr Nawaikula does not know and very few people actually understand is that when the same stray animals become the cause of motor vehicle accidents, people end up losing their lives or are left nursing broken legs or ribs.

I am personally aware of a case where a man, a driver by profession got into an accident when he swerved his vehicle to avoid hitting a cow, a stray animal which came onto the road in the middle of the night.

That man could not work for 20 months. More than $30,000 was spent by his family to get his complex fracture fixed.

It is highly irresponsible of Mr Nawaikula not to call for more controls on stray animals.

A Fiji Sun contractor had also been involved in a motor vehicle accident where a horse came onto the road.

The man, also a driver by profession, could not earn a living for his family for almost a year. How are we looking at compensating victims who come close to losing their limbs in such accidents?

Who is to be blamed here?

People like Mr Nawaikula do not take into account the costs a person has to bear in fixing up the vehicle involved in an accident involving a stray animal.

For a truck, the excess money that needs to be paid to insurance companies is $3000. That is hard earned money too, Mr Nawaikula.

Stray animals are an issue. Kudos to the Agriculture Ministry for building more impounds where stray animals are kept.

We cannot view issues in isolation. We cannot say that the farmer sustains losses when his animals are taken into an impound.

There are licences that need to be paid for every animal you rear. Pay that and provide evidence that the animal held in an impound is yours, pay the impound costs and learn a lesson from it.

Keep your animals in proper fenced off spaces. People have lost their lives, some of lost their income, while some have lost limbs in accidents involving stray animals.

Feedback: jyotip@fijisun.com.fj