Essien Terry, a dog keeper, was fined GH5,000 by the Tema District Community Centre Court for rearing canines for commercial reasons in a residential area without a permit from the Tema Metropolitan Assembly.
Terry was fined after pleading guilty to three counts: unauthorized keeping of dogs in dwelling house, keeping of animals on-premises, and non-compliance with an abatement order. The court was presided over by Mr. Festus Fovi Nukunu.
After pleading with the court, the judge gave Terry one month to relocate the dogs from the residential area, with a deadline of June 22.
Terry was a Tema Community inhabitant, according to Prosecutor Saudatu Issaka, the Environmental Health Analyst.
According to the prosecution, some people in the community filed a complaint with the Environmental Health Office in February of this year regarding the accused’s large-scale dog and cat breeding.
Residents complained it was producing problems such as foul odors and noise, among other things.
The prosecution stated the court that on February 18, 2022, a team of Environmental Health officials investigated the location and discovered that the defendant had a large cage housing roughly ten dogs and cats that were thought to be kept for commercial purposes.
The accused was given a brief education and a notice to remove them from the house to a more convenient location, but he failed to do so and was then charged with failing to appear and answer before the court.
