Carcasses of stray dogs, cats and livestock are lying beneath heaps of garbage in Othaya streets, traders in the town have said.
Residents of the town in Nyeri county have resorted to burying the carcasses in garbage heaps after the county government stopped collecting garbage in the town.
The animals die after being hit by motor vehicles, illnesses or old age.
Morris Maina, a boda boda rider, said ordinarily county government officials would collect such carcasses alongside garbage.
But Governor Mutahi Kahiga’s administration no longer offers the services following a standoff between his government and residents of Gikeu dumpsite.
“There are a lot of carcasses most of them those of stray dogs and cats lying beneath these garbage heaps that you see here,” he said.
Maina said when pets or other domestic animal die at home, people drag them and dispose of them in garbage bins in the town.
To avoid the foul stench of the decomposing carcasses, Maina said they borrow spades and bury them in the garbage piles.
He is one of the boda boda riders operating near two uncollected garbage heaps near the Nyeri-Kiria-ini - Gatugi road junction in Othaya.
He said failure to bury the carcasses would make their operation impossible due to the foul smell from the rotting carcasses.
“What else can we do? We cannot bury the carcasses in somebody’s land. We are only left with the option of burying them in the garbage,” he said.
Maina who spoke to the Star on Saturday said the county government stopped offering garbage collection services over two months ago, although it continues to collect charges and levies from traders in the town.
He said garbage had become an eyesore to traders in the town and called on the county government to look for a lasting solution to the problem.
