CEO STC and Spokesman for the Bawumia campaign, Nana Akomea, has justified his actions towards NDC General Secretary, Fiifi Kwetey, after his bais tribal comment.
Fiifi Kwetey, characterized the NPP flagbearer and Vice President of the Republic, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, as a disgrace to northerners.
In response, Nana Akomea, not typically known for aggressive rhetoric against opponents, decided to confront the NDC Chief secretary head-on.
“If Fiifi Kwetey is looking for a politician who has been a “disgrace” to the North, he need not look further than in his party, as testified by a Northern NDC politician.”
Justifying this unusual reaction, Nana Akomea explained that it was just necessary for him to correct Fiifi Kwetey to do better next time regarding his choice of words.
“I am a Tiger, and the like of these must be straightened….and the only way to straighten them is to show them that where they are headed to is not the best,” he clarified.
On Monday morning, a second tiger escaped from a private farm, two weeks after the first one did.
Residents of Edenvale community in Gauteng spotted the tiger roaming the area on Monday morning, local media reported.
The National Council for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) was said to have confirmed the sighting of the animal. Authorities urged caution and asked residents to keep animals indoors.
Over the weekend, a tiger in South Africa escaped from a private farm but it has been found and killed.
The tiger was the subject of a massive search after it escaped from a farm in Walkerville, south of Johannesburg. It attacked a person, two dogs and a pig while on the loose.
It was shot on Wednesday morning after it entered a farm where families live and killed a domestic animal, local media reported.
The local organisation Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said the authorities were left with a “very difficult decision to make as the lives of more people and animals were at risk”.
“This case proves why wild animals should not be kept as pets. The SPCA is opposed to the keeping and breeding of wild and exotic animals as pets,” it said.
The Senate unanimously approved legislation to restrict private ownership of big cats such as lions and tigers in the United States.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act would prevent individuals from keeping the animals as pets and from exposing them to public petting and photographing.
Following the release of the Netflix documentary series Tiger King, efforts to limit private ownership have increased.
President Joe Biden must now sign the bill into law.
Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley, who introduced the bill into the House, said on social media that it will mean “a lot of big cats will live better lives”.
According to estimates from conservationists, as many as 7,000 tigers are living in the US either in zoos or privately owned – nearly double the estimated 3,890 tigers living in the wild worldwide.
Many in the US are on public display, where the hunt for profits in some privately-owned facilities are alleged to drive a ” relentless breeding cycle that floods the exotic pet trade with surplus tigers who have outgrown the cub stage”, according to the Animal Welfare Institute.
What’s more, the institute alleges facilities that offer cub petting have been known to kill tigers once they can no longer be used to make money.
Under the new bill, possession of lions, tigers, leopards, cheetahs, jaguars, cougars or any hybrid of these species would be limited to wildlife sanctuaries, universities and certified zoos.
Those on display would need to be kept at least 15 feet (4.5 metres) away from the public or behind a barrier to prevent contact.
However, current owners of big cats will be allowed to keep their animals – as long as they don’t allow direct contact between them and the public and register them with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Susan Millward, executive director of the Animal Welfare Institute,has said the Big Cat Public Safety Act “will end the horrific exploitation of big cats and bolster public safety”.
“These beautiful but powerful predators deserve to live in the wild, not be kept in captivity for people’s entertainment—even as cubs,” she added.
Carole Baskin, one of the stars of the Tiger King series and the founder of the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary, has become a champion of the bill and has said she is “thrilled” by the outcome.
The two tigers owned by Nana Kwame Bediako pose no threat to residents in the area, according to the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission.
Luri Kanton, the Director of Operations at the Wildlife Division, after visiting the residence of Mr Bediako at Osu on Friday, said the tigers are in a secured facility.
“We have made the visit to look at the tigers to look at their conditions, the cage they are put in and then we want to assure the general public that the tigers are well secured in this cage and our investigation also reveals that so far, their welfare too is being catered for.â€
Luri Kanton, the Director of Operations at the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission
According to him, the tigers would remain at the current site until the Wildlife Division finds appropriate facility so they are relocated.
“We want to assure the general public that we are satisfied with the conditions under which they are living here. The next step will see the animals out of this place, but until then, we are still making investigations.â€
His comment goes to allay the fear of residents who felt unsafe due to the presence of the wild animals.
Their complaints reached the Police Service who then entreated the Wildlife Division to assess the situation and take the necessary steps.
Per the accounts of Mr Kanton, the Wildlife Division is satisfied with the treatment the tigers are receiving from their owner, Nana Kwame Bediako.
Before the visit, Mr Bediako stated that his tigers will not cause any harm to residents in the neighbourhood.
According to the businessman, he seeks to boost tourism in the country.
Nana Kwame Bediako with one of his tigers
“So yes, I really consider the danger side. But I am not here to harm people and I am not here to encourage people should have tigers to harm people. I am here because I want to boost our tourism, I want to add value to our country.
“I have invested in these animals and it cost me well over a hundred thousand to be able to get them to this level. And we are willing to invest more until they are safe until people can visit them, and people can be a part of them.”
A tiger at New York’s Bronx Zoo has tested positive for COVID-19, the institution said Sunday, and is believed to have contracted the virus from a caretaker who was asymptomatic at the time.
The four-year-old Malayan tiger named Nadia along with her sister Azul, two Amur tigers and three African lions all developed dry coughs and are expected to fully recover, the Wildlife Conservation Society that runs the city’s zoos said in a statement.
“We tested the cat out of an abundance of caution and will ensure any knowledge we gain about COVID-19 will contribute to the world’s continuing understanding of this novel coronavirus,” the statement sent to AFP said.
“Though they have experienced some decrease in appetite, the cats at the Bronx Zoo are otherwise doing well under veterinary care and are bright, alert, and interactive with their keepers,” the statement continued.
“It is not known how this disease will develop in big cats since different species can react differently to novel infections, but we will continue to monitor them closely and anticipate full recoveries.”
All four of the zoos and the aquarium in New York — whose virus death toll has topped 4,000 — have been closed since March 16.
The zoo emphasized that there is “no evidence that animals play a role in the transmission of COVID-19 to people other than the initial event in the Wuhan market, and no evidence that any person has been infected with COVID-19 in the US by animals, including by pet dogs or cats.”
Chinese disease control officials had identified wild animals sold in a Wuhan market as the source of the coronavirus pandemic that has infected well over one million people worldwide.
According to the US Department of Agriculture website there had “not been reports of pets or other animals” in the United States falling ill with coronavirus prior to news of the tiger Nadia.
“It is still recommended that people sick with COVID-19 limit contact with animals until more information is known about the virus,” the department’s website says.
In late March a pet cat was discovered infected with the novel coronavirus in Belgium, following similar cases in Hong Kong where two dogs tested positive for COVID-19.
All of those animals are believed to have contracted the virus from the people they live with.
The Bronx zoo said preventative measures were in place for caretakers as well as all cats in the city’s zoos.
