Many suburbs in Fiji suffer from the stray dog nuisance.

Nobody seems to own them.

They hang around suburbs, disturbing the peace.

They chase cars and bite into the car’s expensive body work. In my case the repair work is quoted as $200. I believe other cars have been similarly defaced. Of course they also bark at and try to bite passers-by. In fact two of my friends in another suburb have just been bitten by their neighbour’s dog.

The other night was no exception where hordes of them carried out an all night chorus of clamorous barking.

No doubt the dogs within the owners’ compounds also participated.

I was surprised to learn after signing a petition to the Nadi Town Council for action to be taken that they were prepared to set up cages in various locations to trap these creatures.

However, surprise, surprise, our own town council had no jurisdiction to trap stray animals!

I believe this “awesome” duty belongs to the agriculture department! I believe they have been as silent as a mouse about this.

When I was in CAAF our works services had the duty to trap the strays.

Two of our cats had died in the hands of these dogs, the mother, Simba, while at CAAF and the son, Sunshine, when we moved to Martintar. Our family, especially my wife, mourned their passing for days.

We are now requesting the Agriculture Department to please urgently co- operate with the Nadi Town Council to rid us of these strays, otherwise some child might become badly mauled by them or more cars become disfigured!