Pet tigers remain in Ghana home despite Accra court order

Two tigers at the center of a row between neighbors in Ghana’s capital, Accra, remain in a cage on one of the properties despite a court ordering their removal.

When entrepreneur Nana Kwame Bediako took the unusual step of importing them, he thought people would be excited to see the non-native wildlife.

But his unimpressed neighbors took legal action.

“My family and I feel very insecure and terrified every time we see these tigers,” said Pamela Agba.

They were brought from Dubai as puppies last year, but now the feral cats seem to be fully grown.

Mr Bediako did not say how much the process cost him, but described what he had done as an “accomplishment”.

“I went through the right process, and I brought in experts from the outside to create a safety cage for them so that they don’t become a danger to the public,” he told reporters last year.

“I can guarantee that there are millions in Africa who have never seen a tiger and this is the common yellow and black. Now we have white tigers, which are very rare in this world.”

Mr. Bediako keeps them locked in a pen next to his house in a gated compound with five other houses in an upscale area of ​​Accra.

Ms Agba and her family share a garden with Mr Bediako at his Wonder World Estate, and her decision to take the matter to court has sparked a lot of interest in the country.

They said that in addition to the fear of tigers, the animals were noisy and gave off a horrible stench.

The court agreed with the Agba family and asked the Forestry Commission, which is responsible for wildlife, to remove the tigers from the animals in three days in November of last year.

Forestry Commission lawyers told the courts they could only remove the animals when Mr Bediako completed an enclosure elsewhere to house them.

In February, three months after the initial decision, the Forestry Commission asked for another three months, but it still failed to remove the tigers.

Bediako told the BBC he needed more time because it took several months to build a new enclosure in another part of Accra, but away from residential areas, to keep the tigers.

“We have written to the Forestry Commission to give us a month because we are almost done with the shelters to house the animals.”

He said any attempt to forcibly move the tigers would only harm them or create a danger to society as there were currently no facilities available to keep them.

“It took us almost five months to get land and another four months to build the facility. We want to be the first country in Africa, outside of South Africa, to properly manage those animals,” he told the BBC.

Last month, the Agba family went back to court, which found the head of the Forestry Commission in contempt of court, and issued a warrant for his arrest.

This has not yet been realized. The Forestry Commission’s lawyer told the BBC it needed more time to remove the tigers. One of the possible reasons for the delay is that the commission does not have the competence to deal with these dangerous animals as it has never dealt with them.

For Mr. Bediako, all that matters is the safety of the animals.

On the issue of his neighbors who are afraid, Mr. Bediako said he was surprised. He said none of the other people who bought apartments in the complex he owns had complained.

“They have been living with them for the last few months since the animals were brought in and there have been no problems.”

Ms Agba’s lawyer said other residents moved away because of the tigers.

Mrs. Agba just wants the whole problem to end.

She said she was fed up of seeing tigers every time she opened her window.