Call it a stampede or a cattle drive, several areas of the capital turn into a wild west sometimes. The scene gets troublesome for the residents and motorists as there are no cowboys to herd the stray cattle. And the issue is rampant despite the Thromde office raising the penalty by a thousand ngultrum for the owners in August last year.
It is not uncommon to see cattle strolling in Thimphu. And it is becoming an everyday struggle for some residents with stray cattle wreaking havoc. With cattle and other domestic animals straying in and around the city and oftentimes on the road, it is affecting the residents and particularly the vegetable vendors.
“They come every two to three days. They dig through our garbage and when we are busy inside, they eat our vegetables. And they attack us when we chase them away. They also block the road and way for the vehicles,” said Hari Gajmer, a vegetable vendor in Thimphu.
“The cattle defecate here and make the surrounding dirty and they block all the ways. It is very inconvenient. We have to clean all cow dungs and it is inconvenient for the customers too. If the owners could take care of their cattle, we would be grateful,” added Karma Lhamo, also a vegetable vendor.
There are no reports of traffic accidents due to stray animals with the traffic police so far. But motorists frequenting highways in Thimphu say stray animals especially cattle stand in the middle of roads, bringing entire traffic to a halt at times. Cattle hitting vehicles are also becoming common.
As per the Thimphu Thromde, they have collected about Nu 72,000 as a penalty for the fiscal year 2021 to 2022 from the owners of the stray animals.
“Initially, the penalty started from Nu 300. We raised it to 500 later because the fine was minimal and the cases were not going down. This fine also didn’t work. The cases kept increasing each passing day and a lot of problems were reported. So, with the animal husbandry director, we made an agreement with Tshether Tshogpa and increased the fee to Nu 1,500,” said Tsheten Wangchuk, the Sanitary Inspector at the Thimphu Thromde.
Currently, the Thromde has deployed cattle guards monitoring the Thromde area for any stray animals. Yet with only five people inspecting from Dechencholing in the North to Babesa in the South throughout the week, they say it is still a challenge.
“Sometimes irrespective of the day and night people make complaints that the cattle are destroying their vegetable garden and some complain of not being able to sleep because of the noise, we have to attend to such complaints,” he added.
Today, animals caught are impounded for a week during which the owners are allowed to claim their animals after paying the penalty. If caught for the second time, the penalty doubles.
Unclaimed animals are taken to the Semchen Tshethar Tshogpa every Saturday. The thromde took five cattle to the Tshogpa recently.
Samten Dolkar
Edited by Phub Gyem
