150 illegal sheep pens seized over Eid Al Adha

AMMAN – The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) removed a total of 150 illegal sheep pens during Eid Al Adha, which ended on Sunday, a municipal official said on Monday. 

Ahmad Ebbini, director of the GAM department to monitor street vendors, said the illegal structures were removed in collaboration with the Public Security Department and environment police personnel.

“GAM designated 14 locations that were legal locations people could head to for sheep. Many vendors know that the sacrifice season is the peak season for them and this is the reason behind the growing number of illegal locations,” he told The Jordan Times over the phone. 

He noted that the number of street vendors working on the eve of Eid Al Adha was also high. 

“They existed mainly on areas of Wihdat, downtown Amman and Nuzha, and we removed many of them,” he added. 

GAM previously urged residents to buy their sacrifices from designated locations because they were “safer and more organised” as they had tanks built underground to collect blood in addition to having teams of sanitation workers deployed at these locations to ensure the cleanliness of the venues.

The health teams working at these locations also checked the animals’ conditions and prohibited the sacrifice of a number of sheep because they found that they were not healthy, he added. 

In the meantime, municipal teams began removing the pens and cleaning the areas on Sunday, Abdul Majeed Oudwan, GAM’s executive director for markets, said in a statement to The Jordan Times.