By Muath Freij – May 10,2016

A herd of sheep passes through a backstreet near a residential area in Amman recently (Photo by Muath Freij)

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) said Tuesday it will start taking strict measures to prevent the capital’s shepherds from letting their sheep graze in residential areas.

Baker Abbadi, deputy city director for health affairs at GAM, said shepherds tend to leave their sheep graze in residential areas in the capital with the start of spring.

“This trend has become a source of inconvenience for many residents. We also received many complaints,” Abbadi told The Jordan Times over the phone.

The municipality official said Ammanis complain that this trend is unhealthy, and makes for an “uncivilised scene”.

“We don’t want to harm [the shepherds] as well so we will start asking them to take their sheep far from residential areas and outside the city,” he added.

Abbadi said health department members, in cooperation with the directors of areas, will implement GAM’s monitoring process to make sure that these shepherds will be notified of the new regulations.

He did not give details on any specific penalties that will be imposed on the shepherds who violate the regulations.

“We will start by telling them about the new conditions and later if anyone violates the regulations we will punish them according to GAM’s law.”

He stressed that the number of livestock owners selling sheep within residential areas is very limited as they have designated stockyards to do so.
– See more at: http://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/gam-crack-down-shepherding-residential-areas#sthash.0RypcSni.dpuf