 The Animal Act, established in 2005, provides for the prevention of cruelty to animals, the seizure and impounding of stray animals, the proper control of animals and related matters. Agriculture officer at the Livestock and Veterinary Division, Timothy Norville, says that while the department's efforts to control the stray livestock continue, public adherence to the legislation put in place by the government of St. Lucia plays a major role in preventing an increase. He also made mention of the growing issue of stray animals in the community of Bosseju. The history of the donkeys is that many years ago when Montrat had the volcanic eruption, some donkeys were gifted to certain farmers in the north of the island. Over the years, the owners, the original owners for these animals have passed away and those animals have been able to multiply. The major problem is that those animals are not in a fenced area per se. They are allowed to roam on from the beach under the wooded areas and now they have moved into the residential areas. Not that they had not been in those places before but over the last 20 years a lot of development has taken place in the Bosseju area. So a lot of those woodlands which would have been free-roaming for farmers to use have now become residential areas. And now you find that they are the problem because the donkeys which would have been free-roaming now enter into the property and residents disgruntled. Another major impediment according to Norville is the presence of stray dogs on the island. He explains that over the years stray dogs have been one of the major causes of farmers losing their produce and livestock. A stray animal could pose a problem not only to itself but to people's properties, people's crops etc etc. But not because an animal is tied and that's where we get a little bit of confusion. Some people believe because it's their property they can tie the animal anyway. If an animal is tied close to a footpath, close to a road, close to any access way which is used by pedestrians, it can be posed as a problem. And these animals too can be impounded. So for instance if you have a cow and you tie it in your yard but you give it a 30 foot rope and it could stretch out and walk across the road, it could stretch out and be a hindrance to walking pedestrians or driving motorists and stuff like that, you have just breached the law and these animals can be impounded. Mr. Norville encourages the public to keep their animals in a manner that does not endanger motorists or the general public. From the Communications Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoine reporting.