“The fact that the president (Luis Lacalle Pou) has publicly recognized, and in Parliament no less, that the government has to solve the issue of the packs is very importantnow it is necessary that the government once and for all get its act together and do something, recognizing the problem, which is a tremendous drama, is not enough”, reflected Pedro Scremini, veterinarian and sheep farmer.
Scremini, over time, was transformed into the spokesman for ranchers of different sizes and from all over the country who suffer damages due to dog attacksadversity that is more than a waste of money, since there is an emotional damage that, he assured, “only the one who suffered it understands it and surely the ruler is not understanding it”.
This Wednesday the President of the Republic appeared before the General Assemblymade up of the current legislature, to take stock of its management of two years of government.
At one point, after pointing out several achievements related to the agricultural sector, he admitted that despite the “important” work carried out at the National Institute for Animal Welfare (INBA), he was in the position of having to solve the attacks of the packs on the flocks.
That moment happens, in the following link, at 3:30:00 of the video.
“I think it is very good that the president recognizes something that we all know, something in which nothing has been done or that what has been done is insufficient, it is really necessary to deal with it”said Scremini, who was one of the producers who a few weeks ago made a manifestation of the problem appearing in Plaza Independencia, in front of the Executive Tower, with dead and injured sheep.
The day after the phrase that Lacalle Pou said, this Thursday, on social networks, the producers denounced new attacks, in this case in Treinta y Tres, Cerro Largo, Flores and Tacuarembo.
P. Scremini
Sheep killed this week after an attack in Cerro de las Cuentas, Cerro Largo.
P. Scremini
Lamb bought at the National Expo in San José, killed by an attack in Treinta y Tres, this week.
Just to consider another of the recent cases, Over the weekend, a producer in Canelones lost at least 20 sheep and has dozens of other sheep injured by the attack of five dogs..
Messages to Mattos, Maldonado and Del Campo
Scremini reminded The Observer that recently He sent three hierarchs a video where Norberto Pereira, the producer of Canelones who was attacked by a pack last weekend, appears crying when he sees the disaster caused on his property.
He sent it to the Minister of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP), Fernando Mattos; the general director of the MGAP, Fernanda Maldoando; and the president of the National Institute for Animal Welfare (INBA), Marcia del Campo.
“I sent them the video and put them as a message ‘A shame’; I’ve never sent them anything before.”counted.
That video that Scremini sent was exposed on Twitter by the journalist Marcelo Umpierrez.
‼️?? #Uruguay #SheepAttacks The issue of pack attacks on sheep from end to end of Uruguay continues without any kind of solution. Today he touched a producer from San Jacinto. It is terrible to hear the anguish of this man. pic.twitter.com/22y95b68RC
– Marcelo Umpierrez (@emekavoces) February 27, 2022
As well He sent the three of them a copy of a note that they made to Maldonado in the newspaper El País and in that case the comment with which he accompanied the shipment had one word: “Unfortunate”. In the note, she said, “there is always talk of bets” to solve the issue, “when the reality is that everything gets worse.”
“I was very excited about what happened to Norberto Pereira, the producer of Canelones; I know all three of them, I know they know very clearly what to do, therefore if it is not done, it is because there is a line from above that it is not done, another is not left because I know them and I know that they know the pain that all this generates”, he indicated.
On what should be done, he replied: “The president (Lacalle Pou), who is a president who I suppose knows about these issues, should lower a very clear line, I am sure that Mattos, Maldonado, Del Campo know what to do to start fixing this and if they have the indication they will do it and stop acting politically, which is what they are doing for a disciplinary issue”.
Finally, Scremini admitted that there are much more important issues for the country on the agenda, “but for the productive sector, which contributes so much, this is very serious, a terrible image for a country that produces meat and wool, It is a tragedy and it cannot be postponed that the government and the opposition have sufficient stature to set aside interests and act”.
P. Scremini
Scremini receives reports of leek attacks on flocks practically every day.
On solutions, he pointed out the need for massive construction of shelters across the country, “with the investment that is necessary”, where to install captured loose dogs; an effort to start identifying dogs, “what can be done quickly if the decision is made”; let there be teams of two or three trained municipal officials, who lift the dogs from the public road and if necessary, they could check if this or that dog has a chip, with the current castration scheme in an overflowing canine population, the objective will never be reached, resources and time are wasted for nothing; to be applied “heavy fines” to the owner of a dog that is not in the right conditions; and advance castration to go to a much smaller population, something that will take a few years, “but you really have to start”.
