By Anthony G. Stewart, PhD
Battered, beaten and bruised, farmers on Union Island took matters into their own hands to have islanders take control of their own animals. The year was perhaps 1993, and the Environmental Action Committee, under the leadership of Stanford Coy, restored discipline and order, which allowed everyone to grow their own food again.
The island was cultivated as it had been traditionally. A view from the hillsides indicated gardens cleared and planted with the traditional crops of corn, pigeon peas, potatoes, okras, pumpkins, cassava, peanuts and more.
Ropes and chains were prepared for the tethering of animals. Serious shepherds repaired fences to keep their sheep and goats from straying beyond their secured boundaries. Pastures were cleared for grazing ruminants. Pens were built for poultry, and some fowls were tied. Coups were built for fowls, equipped with special elevated areas for the laying of eggs.
The trajectory was for improved food security in the near future. Our history showed storage of excess production in drums, sometimes enough to last through the next growing season and even to outlast droughts. The good old days were returning and would have been so except for the action of the Union Island Police, who arrested a farmer who killed a donkey that was destroying his crops.
Since then, things have remained the same, with animals destroying cultivation, feasting on flowers and fruit trees, overgrazing, and generally becoming agents of food insecurity and poverty and literally reducing independent people to beggars.
The then NDP government pretended to show interest in solving the problem. Israelis were brought in to give advice because of their experience of farming desert lands. Their advice was completely ignored. Nothing could be done unless we got rid of the animals on the loose.
Fed-up with the government’s inaction and mindful of the Grenadines Declaration, the NDP stronghold of Union Island voted for change in the 2001general elections. Things did not improve but worsened during the almost quarter-century rule of the ULP government.
The people of Union Island again voted for change in 2025, but more than 100 days of the new NDP administration, we have yet to hear an unambiguous policy statement: “Owners must take responsibility for their animals.” This statement could have been made by any of the government ministers.
Finance: A plot of land yields more money from crops than from animals.
National Security: Animals on the loose steal water, crops and may cause road accidents.
Tourism: Loose animals prevent the beautification of the island with trees and flowers.
Foreign Trade: Loose animals should be exported.
Health: Animals raised in the garbage dump and from overturned bins are unfit for consumption.
Family Affairs: In limited land space, crops grown can feed a family well.
Agriculture: Tethered animals may provide milk, meat, manure, and more money.
Fisheries: Overgrazing causes erosion, resulting in excessive soil being washed into the sea negatively impacting the nurseries surrounding Union Island.
Culture: Without the growing of crops, your Maroon and Harvest festivals are meaningless.
Education: While it may take acres and years to raise first-class animal protein, crops on small plots can give you a balanced diet in months.
A meeting hosted by the Union Island Environmental Alliance under the leadership of Katrina Coy was convened on March 31, 2026. In attendance were Senior Agricultural Officer Karomo Browne and non-resident Agricultural Extension Officer Allan Williams, together with about thee animal farmers and a good representation of the Union Island community.
Notably absent was the police. It was decided to write letters to all concerned if they could be identified and published in the newspapers and other media, hoping that those concerned would be reached.
It is clear that those with animals on the loose have no intention of tying them. They may have neither interest nor the time to look after them. In the meantime, trampling loose animals continue with the hooves on the ground, multiplying even as the growing season begins, and the more things change…
