COMMUNITY volunteer Max Aguon told Variety on Sunday that cow manure once again littered the roads to the Grotto, Suicide Cliff, and the Bird Island lookout — all popular tourist sites in Marpi.
“There was so much scattered cow manure. I picked it all up,” he said.
“Bikers who frequent the areas and tourists on vehicles tried to avoid the cow manure. This is not good for our island. We’re trying to bring in tourists and we want them to visit us again,” Aguon added.
He is once again asking the owners of the cows that are roaming freely in Marpi to secure the animals.
He also noted that a portion of the road to the Bird Island lookout has been damaged.
Since at least 2011, the Marianas Visitors Authority has been expressing concern about the negative effect on tourism of cow manure in the area.
In 2020, the Department of Public Lands said cattle found on the loose in the area would be seized and eradicated, and the cattle owners’ DPL-issued grazing permit could be revoked.
Max Aguon uses a shovel to remove cow manure from a public road in Marpi on Sunday morning.
Max Aguon points to a damaged portion of a road that leads to the Bird Island lookout in Marpi.
