A new twist has emerged in the story of an animal shelter for pigs in Paro causing inconveniences to the residents. A group of residents have now come forward in support of the association taking care of the shelter and denied the claims that they are against it. The district and gewog offices had instructed the animal shelter to relocate because the wastewater from the pigsty was polluting the nearby river.
A group of people who are managing the animal shelter that houses over 80 pigs are in support of the Semchen Tsethar Tshogpa. They are from Dopshari and Doteng, the two gewogs which, according to gewog officials, had complained that the pigsty was an issue.
But the group claimed they are instead benefitting from it and are in support of the animal shelter.
“We drink the water coming from the stream in winter, the water is clean. We haven’t experienced any problem. But in summer, because the rain contaminates it, we don’t drink from it,” said Rinzin, a resident of Loogchhoed.
“We have water taps in front of our doors, but during the dry seasons when water is scarce, we drink from the stream below. So far there hasn’t been any problem,” added Lam Penjor, a resident of Jipa.
“I am the closest neighbour to the pigsty here. Earlier when the place was used as a slaughterhouse, the smell was terrible. We couldn’t even work and people refused to help us with any work due to the smell. Once the Tsethar Tshogpa took over, it has changed,” added Karma Tshundru, another resident.
“I don’t have any problem with the pigs here; I haven’t come across any inconvenience. In fact, we are benefitting from the manure. Everyone is rushing here for it,” said Tshering Peday.
The Semchen Tsethar Tshogpa claimed the gewog office wants to relocate the shelter so that an archery range can be constructed in the location. They added they are going to stand by the agreement they had initially made with the landowner which allows the shelter to remain as long as the pigs survive.
“We have an agreement with the landowner to keep the rescued pigs here till they die naturally. But to achieve the plan of constructing an archery ground, they had called the media and BAFRA to chase us on these baseless accusations,” said Singay Dorji, a member of the Tshogpa.
Meanwhile, the gewog office says they are going to stand by their decision.
“The archery range is also important. we are not asking them to relocate because we want an archery range. The issue here is that the enclosure is located near a water source and it is getting polluted,” said Lehtro, the Doteng Gup.
The gewog office says they are willing to allow them a few months to find a place to relocate but cannot allow the shelter to remain here permanently.
The issue was discussed several times in the Gewog and Dzongkhag Tshogdu.
Namgay Wangchuk, Paro
