Wednesday marked his 60th day as mayor of Saipan as he reiterated his promise to get rid of the island’s stray dogs.
He said all his personnel are required to immediately remove dead animals on public roads.
As of Wednesday, he said his office had already retrieved over 70 carcasses.
“There are days when we remove three to four dead animals from public roads,” he added.
A staff member, Tony Reyes, is presently tasked to ensure the removal and disposal of dead animals from the roads, which he does on call, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.
Some of the mayor’s other personnel are undergoing training at the Division of Fish and Wildlife on how to identify, retrieve and handle stray dogs, especially sick, wild or vicious dogs.
According to the law, removing dead animals from public roads is the Department of Public Safety’s responsibility, but Flores said he understands and appreciates the limited resources and demands on DPS and the mayor’s staff are just doing what they can to help.
He said it is also his duty to attend to the welfare and health of the people.
Flores said he met with Department of Public Lands Secretary Oscar M. Babauta to discuss the proposed location of an animal shelter in Lower Base.
He said his office is now waiting for the final turnover of the property so they can immediately proceed with the construction of the shelter.
“Once this is done we can immediately proceed with the licensing, impounding, and sheltering of animals,” the mayor said.
The mayor’s office has a $160,000 budget for the construction of the facility, he added.
Flores said he also discussed Tinian’s successful stray dog program with Tinian Mayor Ramon M. Dela Cruz.
Flores noted that when he assumed office, not a single heavy equipment was in running condition.
“In less than two months, my staff has put seven heavy equipment into running and operable condition. Now the people of Saipan have a 16cy dump truck, a grader, a backhoe, a bobcat, a tractor lowboy, and two boom trucks for junk car and scrap metal removals. And we even helped repair a DPS emergency vehicle which was a fire truck. We did this because DPS needs it for the safety of the people of Saipan,” the mayor said.
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