Motorists in Saint Lucia are demanding action to stop cows straying onto the Gros Islet highway after another collision this week.
On Monday, September 1, a vehicle struck a cow near the Choc roundabout. The driver, who declined to comment, was unhurt. The accident followed a similar crash two weeks earlier.
Two men who stopped to assist said they, too, had been victims of cow-related accidents and expressed frustration over what they described as a persistent danger on the busy highway.
Reul Eudovic, a Babonneau resident, said he rushed to help on Monday because he knew the feeling all too well.
“Nearly seven years ago, I hit a cow in the same area. It wasn’t the same owner, but I was also a victim of people leaving their cows unsupervised,” he told St Lucia Times.
In his case, the animal was untagged, but someone at the scene was able to trace the cow to the owner’s children after learning the owner had passed away. Eudovic eventually received the cow as compensation for his damaged vehicle.
Monday’s incident was more straightforward. Eudovic said the driver was able to identify the cow’s owner, a well-known farmer with around 60 cows, who later arrived on the scene.
The farmer declined to comment directly on the crash but admitted he has also long been frustrated with the incidents. He said he has been in discussions with successive governments for increased land space, but is now hopeful that a permanent solution is on the horizon.
Last week, Kemuel Jn Baptiste, Acting Director of Agricultural Services, told St Lucia Times that plans were progressing to relocate unrestrained cows to designated pasture lands in the south. The farmer involved confirmed he has already visited one of the proposed sites in Cocoa Dan, Vieux Fort.
“When I went to see the land, I was impressed. They’ve already fenced it. I agreed to move there, so anytime from now, I’ll be in Vieux Fort,” he said.
But for motorists, the wait is proving costly.
Irvin Springer, who also stopped at Monday’s scene, said he was traumatised by his own brush with a cow owned by the same farmer years earlier.
He was heading home after a gig around 2 a.m. It was dark, and he collided with a black cow standing in a poorly lit area. “The car spun out of control. Luckily, there was no damage, but it traumatised me,” he said.
Another commuter, who asked not to be named, recalled how his son hit a black cow in the same area two years ago.
“It cost well over $10,000 to repair the vehicle. We never found the owner, so we had to absorb the loss,” he said, adding that as a daily commuter on the Gros Islet highway, he has noticed cows often appear in greater numbers when it rains.
Springer believes much of the problem lies with one farmer, who he claims is the same owner linked to multiple incidents. “I’ve begged him before: ’Please tie your cows. Don’t wait until someone perishes’. It’s a very simple solution.”
He fears action will only come after a tragedy. “Are we going to wait until a busload of children, or a taxi carrying visitors, is involved before we decide to act?” he asked.
they are deliberately knocking the cows